The Pirate Queen
by DisneyAddictGirl
Summary: Years have passed since Corona fell to the hands of Pitch. Years have passed since Rapunzel escaped, swearing to never return. But now rumors claim that Pitch has found a new weapon to help him extend his reign, and Rapunzel has to choice but to stop him. With the help of her two best friends, Merida and Hiccup, and a boy named Jack whose brown eyes sometimes flicker blue.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so this is a new fic I'm starting, and I hope you guys like it. It is a Jackunzel fic, but I won't be introducing Jack into the story until later on. I would like to thank my friend Wolfgirl619 for helping me basically plan out the whole story with her awesome ideas. Well, I hope you guys like it and please leave a review and tell me what you think. Enjoy :)**

 _It was the screams that woke her, followed by the sound of thundering footsteps outside of her door. It was still night, and she stumbled out of bed, still half asleep, wondering what on earth was happening out in the hallway._

 _She was just about to reach the door when it burst open, and one of the maids rushed in. Her hair was disheveled, and her uniform was dirty and covered with soot._

 _"Princess, we've got to hurry" she said breathlessly, grabbing Rapunzel's hand and rushing out of the bedroom._

 _The air was filled with smoke, and Rapunzel could faintly see two men fighting outside the door of her parent's bedroom._

 _"What's going on? Mom, Dad" she shouted, struggling against the maid, but her grip on Rapunzel's wrist was too strong for her to set herself free._

 _Her screams caught the attention of the two men, the one with his back towards her turned, and her green eyes connected with his deep blue ones._

 _"Dad."_

 _"Rapun-"_

 _His call was cut short as the other man sunk his blade into the king's abdomen, and laughed a wicked laugh, his golden eyes connecting with Rapunzel's._

 _She watched as the king fell, blood pouring out of his wound, before the smoke became too thick to see, and the only thing left for her to do was run._

...

"Rapunzel?...Rapunzel!" Merida waved her hand in front of Rapunzel's face, bringing the blonde woman back from her thoughts.

Rapunzel blinked and then focused her green eyes on Merida's.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Merida arched an eyebrow, slightly frustrated with how distracted her friend had been lately, and stood silent for a moment.

"Ye were thinking about that night again weren't ye?"

Rapunzel nodded, and Merida's eyes softened.

"Well, Ah said that the weather has been way to harsh to continue heading west, Ah say we double back and instead make our way to Montressor. We are running low on food, thanks to Ulf and his crazy cravings in the middle of the night, so it would be good to restock on that and other supplies we need" Merida said, deciding not to push the subject.

Rapunzel nodded, "It would be good to pay Sarah a visit."

"Aye, it would, and Ah bet Jim would love to see his mum again. It's been almost two years since we last stopped there."

"Yeah, last time we stopped there was the time Hiccup stowed away on the ship" Rapunzel said, chuckling at the memory of a scrawny Hiccup hiding in a corner below deck, sound asleep. He had changed so much since then, and now was hardly the scrawny kid Rapunzel had met that day, long ago.

She heard the sound of commotion outside of her cabin, and she could see Merida roll her eyes as they made their way to the deck. Once again, Jim and Axel were arguing, their voices rising with each word they spat at each other.

Axel raised his fist and swung at Jim, but before he could make contact, a hand clasped around his wrist tightly, stopping his fist in mid-air.

"What is goin on here?" Merida asked, stepping in between the two men, glaring at both of them.

As usual, Axel began to complain about how Jim always asked him to check the rigging in the mornings, and how he rarely ever bothered Greno about his lousy rigging.

Merida sighed, "Okay, first of all, Axel, ye are the ship's rigger, it is yer job to furl and release the sails, so unless ye want to take Russel's spot as cabin boy, Ah suggest ye nut up and do yer job" Merida turned to face Jim "Jim, ye can't let Greno slack off because ye are too busy snapping at Axel, Ah know he almost cut off yer hand that one time he was showing off with the swords, but honestly, get over it."

Both men nodded quietly, knowing better than to cross the ship's Quartermaster.

"Okay gentlemen, we all know we can't get anything done by fighting, so Ah suggest we all keep our heads and get back to work" she said, and they both nodded. Axel went off to join Greno, and Jim walked towards Rapunzel, to give his daily report about how the ship's inspection went and of the state of the ship's sails and rigging.

They talked for a few minutes, and Merida could see Jim break out into a huge smile and nod at Rapunzel before walking away. Rapunzel then walked to stand next to Hiccup at the wheel.

"Oh dear sailing master" she said with a smile on her face.

"Yes Milady?" Hiccup asked, grinning.

"Turn this ship around, we shall be changing course" she ordered.

"Where to?"

"Montressor."

Hiccup smiled and nodded, "Aye aye Captain."


	2. Chapter 2

_They ran through the halls of the castle, descended stairs, and then kept running._

 _"Where are we going?" Rapunzel asked breathlessly._

 _"We're going towards the servants headquarters. There's a backdoor there that we can use to exit the castle. It's not much farther" said the maid without turning back._

 _In each hall they passed, there were bodies laying on the ground. Guards, servants, and men who she didn't recognize wearing black clothing._

 _The smoke kept growing, and the heat from the fire a few floors below increased._

 _"I-I don't think I can keep going" Rapunzel said as they descended another flight of stairs._

 _"We can't stop, w-we must keep going" the maid said, but even so she was slowing down as well. The further down they went, the more the smoke increased, and it kept getting harder and harder to breathe._

 _After getting to the ground floor and rounding the corner, the maid stopped and leaned against the wall, breathless, pointing towards the door at the end of the hall._

 _"T-there."_

 _Rapunzel could barely see the door, but she could tell it was close, she turned to look back at the maid, and screamed._

 _Standing behind the maid was the man with the yellow eyes. He smiled again as he swiftly took out a blade, slicing the maid's throat before she could even scream, and her body crumpled to the floor, blood seeping from her wound and staining the floor._

 _Rapunzel let out a sob and began backing away._

 _"Don't try to run, my dear, there's no where for you to go" the man said as he advanced towards her, a wicked gleam in his eyes._

 _Tears streamed down Rapunzel's face, and soon she found herself back up against the wall. Her pleas for mercy went unheard as the man kept coming. He stood in front of her, grinning as she cried, then he raised his hand holding the blade and swung it at her._

 _She screamed as she felt the blade connect with her chest, and she fell , her blood beginning to decorate the floor._

...

As they grew closer to Montressor, Jim's attitude seemed to lighten up. He even stopped glaring at Axel every time they were in the same room together. Once they finally docked on Montressor's ship port, Jim all but ran out towards his mother's motel, the Benbow Inn, with the rest of the crew close behind.

Sarah Hawkins, as most would say, was a lovely woman. She was beautiful, kind, funny, hard-working, serious, somewhat strict, and overall a wonderful mother. She was slender, with brown hair and blue eyes just like her son's.

She was startled when Jim burst through the door of the Benbow, but then proceeded to hug her son tightly. Everybody loved Sarah, and the whole crew formed a line as they all took turns hugging her.

"So what brings you guys here?" she asked once she had hugged everyone.

"Well, we were running short on supplies, and we thought that it had been quite a long time since we last paid you a visit too, so here we are" Rapunzel said as she took a seat at one of the tables.

"Well, I'm glad you guys are here, it has been way too long since you last came" Sarah agreed, "are you guys hungry? I could get Ben to cook you guys some food" she offered.

The crew all nodded and cheered as Sarah walked off towards the kitchen. Rapunzel was talking to Merida about when to head out to get the supplies when Hiccup leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"The guys on the table by the corner, you should listen to what they're saying."

Rapunzel arched and eye brow and then followed his gaze. In the corner, three men were sitting down, having what seemed to be a serious conversation. Hiccup motioned for her to go over there, and Rapunzel got up and walked towards the window by their table, pretending to look out into the sea as she listened.

"...says the whole town was over taken. If things keep going the way they are, Pitch will completely take over Arendelle."

Rapunzel froze at the mention of his name. It had been so long since she had last heard his name. Without thinking, she strolled over and pulled out one of the chairs at the men's table, plopping herself on it.

"Pitch Black is planning to take over Arendelle?" she asked bluntly.

None of them answered her, and she glared at them.

"You said an entire town was over taken?" she asked again.

One of the men nodded.

"How do you know?"

"My cousin was there. He says Pitch took control of the entire town in under thirty minutes."

Rapunzel arched her eye brow, "How did he do that? ...I thought he exhausted most of his army when he, um, took over Corona"

The man was quiet for a moment, glancing about the room, then he leaned in, lowering his voice as he spoke, as if he were afraid that even the walls might be listening.

"My cousin says Pitch has a new weapon. A witch, with white hair and the power to control the snow. She's the reason Pitch has been able to take control of the outer towns of Arendelle".

The blood drained from Rapunzel's face, and she could feel tears threatening to form.

"Your cousin has to be mistaken-"

"Nope, he knows what he saw. She was right in front of him, almost killed the poor guy, but instead she let him go."

Rapunzel stood up abruptly and then walked away. She locked eyes with Merida and Hiccup and motioned for them to walk with her. They stepped outside and walked a few blocks away from the Benbow and into an alley.

"Did you hear what they were saying about Arendelle?" Hiccup asked.

Rapunzel nodded, "It's Pitch. He's taking over the outer towns of Arendelle. And quite fast too, they say he just swoops in and takes over them"

"How? Last time Ah heard, his army was still just a small group of maybe two hundred men since he keeps killin everybody that shows defiance towards him" Merida said.

Rapunzel was quiet, chewing on her bottom lip, and both Hiccup and Merida shared a look.

"Punzie, what did they say?" Hiccup asked her.

"...They...they say Pitch has...they say he's found a new weapon. They say that a witch with white hair and...and the power to control snow is helping him..."

Merida gasped, and Hiccup's eyes widened.

"No... ye don't think its...no" Merida whispered.

"I-I don't know..." Rapunzel ran a hand through her blonde hair. She was trying not to get her hopes up, but it was hard. She'd been having dreams about her recently. Sometimes dreams where she was still alive, being held captive by Pitch. Other times, they were dreams where only her voice could be heard, calling out either Rapunzel's name for help, or her sister's. Either way, in each one, she was alive. It had to mean something, Rapunzel's dreams were never really just dreams after all.

"Rapunzel?" Merida placed her hand on Rapunzel's shoulders.

"I've been dreaming of her" she said abruptly, startling Merida and Hiccup.

"What?" Merida arched an eyebrow.

"I've been dreaming of her. I've been dreaming of her alive, telling me to come help her. I've dreamed of her being Pitch's prisoner. What if...what if she didn't die? What if she was taken by-"

"Punzie" Merida interrupted her, "that's impossible, and ye know that, ye were there that day, lass. She couldn't have survived."

"But what if she did? What if she survived? What if Pitch is using her to take over Arendelle?"

Hiccup sighed, "That's a lot of what ifs, Rapunzel."

"So?"

"Punzie, even if she were alive, what could we do? It's not like we can just walk in and get her out" Merida said.

Rapunzel stayed quiet for a moment. "I...I at least have to check it out. See if it really is her or not. I have to Mer..."

Merida's eyes softened and Hiccup sighed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall of the alley, knowing that there was no changing Rapunzel's mind.

"Well, what do you want to do?"


	3. Chapter 3

_She slowly dragged herself towards the door, one hand on her chest and the other clawing at the floor. The yellow-eyed-man was long gone._

 _She was losing blood quite fast. Her hand reached out to the doorknob, slipping a few times due to the blood, and she turned it, pushing the door open._

 _After that, everything seemed hazy. She stood up, and began walking away, applying pressure to her wound with both of her hands._

 _She was almost to the woods when an explosion made her stop. She turned to face the destruction of her home for the first time, and gasped, horrified at what she saw. Her vision was blurry, but she could still see that the castle was on fire, and some of the villager's houses as well. She could faintly hear the synchronized cries of women and children, and yells of the men._

 _She let out a sob, and then turned to walk away, but only made it a few feet before she collapsed, her blood loss making it impossible for her to go further. Her vision was going white, and she was sure she was done for. And then a face appeared in her line of vision._

 _'A girl' she thought._

 _The girl had red, curly hair hidden under the hood of her cape, and really beautiful blue eyes. She was speaking, but Rapunzel couldn't understand what she was saying. She was finding it very hard to keep her eyes open._

 _The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the feeling of being lifted in someone's arms and being carried away. Away from the burning destruction that was once her home._

...

They stayed in Montressor for a week, no one really wanting to leave the comfort and peace that came from staying at the Benbow, and with Sarah. She was kind of a motherly figure to the crew, and everybody was sad to say goodbye when they finally had to leave.

Rapunzel stood by Hiccup again as he steered the ship away from Montressor. Neither said anything, but Hiccup knew that she had something on her mind.

"You're nervous" he said it as a statement, not a question.

Rapunzel sighed and nodded, "I haven't been there in ten years Hiccup, I'm honestly surprised I haven't thrown up yet...I mean...I'm going back to Corona, the place I swore to never return to."

"You don't have to go, you know. I mean I know why going back is important, but is it really worth it? You've worked hard to leave that life behind, Punz, is this really worth going back just to simply check to see if the rumors are true?"

"I wouldn't be captain of the Golden Dagger if it weren't for her, Hiccup. And besides, even if this didn't involve her, we can't let Pitch do to Arendelle what he did to Corona."

Hiccup stayed quiet for a moment, staring out into the open sea.

"And if it is her? What then?"

"We save her"

"How? Rapunzel we're just a few measly pirates, we're no match for the King of Nightmares."

"We'll find a way" Rapunzel insisted.

Hiccup scoffed, "Yeah, right."

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't say anything. Instead, she noticed how her friend's eyes seemed to be trying to hide the pain he felt, and she remembered that Hiccup had also lost people because of Pitch.

"Hic..." she wrapped her arm around him and rested her head against his shoulder. She could feel Hiccup relax a little, and then decided to change the subject after a few minutes of silence.

"So...when are you gonna confess your undying love for Merida?"

Hiccup tensed up again, and Rapunzel raised her head to see her friend blushing.

"W-what are you talking about?"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Oh come on, you don't think I've noticed the way you look at her when she's too busy bossing everyone around? Or when she's too busy stuffing her face with apples? I'm not stupid Hiccup. Even the whole crew has noticed the way you guys always seem to be exchanging looks."

Hiccup blushed again. Rapunzel wasn't wrong, Hiccup had been having feelings for Merida for quite some time now, but he'd always tried to keep quiet about them.

"Rapunzel...I can't-"

"Yes you can" Rapunzel interrupted.

Hiccup sighed.

"Look, I don't want to push you or anything, but that girl over there," she pointed to where Merida was talking to Russel, her loud laugh rising over all of the voices of the crew, "is crazy about you. She's stubborn and won't admit it to herself, much less to me, but I have seen the way she looks at you. And let me tell you Hic, that in all of my years of knowing Merida, I have never seen her smile the way she smiles when she's with you."

Hiccup looked at Rapunzel, "Really?"

She nodded.

"Merida isn't exactly the easiest person to deal with sometimes, but she's one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met. I know approaching her about your feelings might be hard, but I think you should do it."

"But, she hates relationships. She ran away from home to get out of a marriage, I doubt she'd-"

Rapunzel raised her hand to stop him.

"Like I said, she isn't the easiest person to deal with. But, if you approach her gently and with honesty, I know she'll be willing to hear you out."

Hiccup sighed, and looked out at the sea again. He didn't say anything else, but Rapunzel knew he was thinking about what she had just told him. She left him at the wheel and walked down the stairs onto the deck, joining Merida who was now leaning against the railing.

"So...what were ye and Hic talkin about?"

Rapunzel glanced at Merida, who was concentrated on the vast nothingness of the sea.

"Oh, you know...nothing really, I was just asking Hiccup about that girl he was talking to at the Benbow the other night, Tinkerbell I think was her name."

"Oh...what did he say?"

Rapunzel shrugged, "Nothing much, just that she was really pretty and nice, and that she knew quite a bunch about tinkering."

Rapunzel glanced at Merida again and could see that her friend was tensed up, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Oh."

"Yeah, but Hic says she wasn't his type."

"Really?"

Rapunzel nodded, "He said he's more into red-heads" with that said, she grinned and walked away from Merida, who was now looking after her, and headed for her cabin.

...

 _She opened her eyes slowly, confused about where she was. She seemed to be in a small room of some kind with nothing else but the bed, a table, a wardrobe, and a door that probably led to the restroom. She tried to move, but then felt a rush of pain and laid back down._

 _"Don't move, ye aren't strong enough yet" a voice said._

 _Rapunzel turned to face the owner of the voice, and saw the girl she'd seen right before she lost consciousness sitting in the corner of the room on a chair._

 _"W-who are you?" she asked in a weak voice._

 _"Merida, who are ye?"_

 _"Rapunzel."_

 _"As in the princess of Corona?"_

 _Rapunzel nodded, and then felt a pang in her chest as she remembered what had happened. Her home, her parents, it was all destroyed. Gone. She could feel tears begin to build, and she bit her lip to prevent herself from sobbing._

 _Merida, who watched as her eyes glistened with tears, got up and walked towards her. She sat on the edge of the bed and touched her forehead, and then lifted the covers to check on the wound on her chest. Rapunzel finally noticed that her entire chest area had been wrapped in bandages._

 _"Ah cleaned yer wound and wrapped it up, if that's what yer wondering. Ye lost a lot of blood from what Ah could tell, so Ah suggest ye rest for a while."_

 _"How long have I been unconscious?"_

 _"Two days."_

 _"Oh."_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Where are we?"_

 _"In a town just outside of Corona."_

 _Rapunzel sighed, and then pressed her hand against her chest gently. "Why did you help me?"_

 _Merida, who had gotten up and was rummaging through her bag, turned to look at her._

 _"Ah couldn't exactly just leave ye there to die, I'm not heartless."_

 _"Yes, but why are you still here? You could have just dropped me off and left me at someone else's care."_

 _Merida was quiet for a few seconds._

 _"Ah don't know to be honest, Ah just felt like Ah needed to watch over ye."_

 _Rapunzel was now the one who was quiet, looking up at the ceiling._

 _"Thank you..."_

 _"Ye're welcome."_

...

The sun had gone down, and most of the crew was below deck, either falling asleep of talking about nonsense.

Hiccup stood at the wheel still, enjoying the view of the stars.

"What are ye thinking about, Hic?"

Hiccup jumped, and turned to see Merida standing behind him.

"Merida, you scared the crap out of me!"

Merida smiled.

"Would ye like me to steer? Ye've been here all day."

Hiccup nodded and then stepped aside, letting Merida take control of the wheel. A comfortable silence settled over them as Hiccup stood next to her, looking up at the sky.

"Hiccup...do ye ever...Ah don't know, think about a life after piracy?" Merida asked.

The question took Hiccup by surprise, and he thought about it for a while. A life after piracy? If Hiccup was being completely honestly with himself, he did think about it, from time to time. Sometimes he wondered what life would be like living on firm ground again.

Back home he'd had a pretty great future ahead of him. He was a blacksmith, despite his father's position as governor of Berk. He preferred spending his time tinkering and getting his hands dirty instead of dealing with the judgement that came with attending his father's meetings and helping him with his work.

Even though he loved life as a pirate, sometimes, he wondered if he would ever be able to do that again.

"Yes, I do" he answered, turning to face Merida.

"Why?"

Merida shrugged, "Ah was just wondering."

"No, you don't ever wonder about things Merida. What is it? What's wrong?"

Merida tore her eyes away from the sky and looked at him.

"Ah just...sometimes Ah just think about what it would be like to...to have a family, ye know? Ah think about what it would be like to get married to someone Ah love and start a family."

Hiccup nodded, but stayed quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"Ah...Ah ran away from home to avoid getting married and to finally have mah freedom. But...now, Ah just think about how different things would be like if Ah had just stayed. I love my life as a pirate and my freedom, but sometimes Ah just..." Merida stopped talking and sighed, lowering her gaze to the floor.

Hiccup nodded again, "I know what you mean."

They were quiet again, and Hiccup thought about what Rapunzel had told him.

"Would you be willing to get married now? Or to at least consider, you know, being with someone?" Hiccup asked, breaking the silence.

Merida looked at him.

"A few years ago, Ah would've said no...but now..."

"But now?"

"Ah don't know, Ah guess if the right man came along..."

Without realizing it, Hiccup had been inching closer to her. They were so close, and it would've been so easy for Hiccup to just lean in and kiss her. But Merida seemed to hesitate, and then looked away.

"Ah...it's late, Ah should go to sleep...ye should too, Hic. Jim's still awake, ye could ask him to steer for ye."

Hiccup nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Goodnight Merida."

"Goodnight Hiccup."

* * *

 **Okay, so, if any of you are wondering, Rapunzel is 23 years old, Hiccup is 25, and Merida is 26, just in case any of you are wondering. The name of Rapunzel's ship is the Golden Dagger, by the way. Also, this story will have Mericcup too, so, just letting you guys know. I hope you guys liked it and please review and tell me what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

_The lighting inside of The Snuggly Duckling was horribly dim and the smell was just putrid. But, in her three years of traveling with Rapunzel, Merida had to say she had experienced worse._

 _She sat at one of the tables in the corner and watched as Rapunzel and a large man with a hook hand seemed to be arguing. The man's face was red with anger and it was only a matter of seconds before things would get ugly._

 _"Now ye've done it" Merida mumbled as she stood up from her seat and walked over to where Rapunzel was. She grabbed her arm and then stepped inbetween her and the guy who looked just about ready to gut her._

 _"Excuse meh, what seems to be the problem?" she asked, staring the big man down as he glared back._

 _"Missy here won't mind her own business" the man waved his hook at Rapunzel._

 _"He was being rude and picking on poor guy who was just minding his own business" Rapunzel argued._

 _"Is that so?"_

 _Rapunzel nodded, and the man's glared intensified. Rapunzel stuck out her tongue and that's when the guy lost it. He pushed Merida aside in one swift motion, sending her tumbling to the floor, and then charged towards Rapunzel. She stumbled backwards and fell, drawing out her dagger and raising her hand up in defense as the man came towards her_

 _"What on earth is going on here?" a female's voice boomed, making the entire room quiet._

 _The man, who was a few feet from Rapunzel, cursed under his breath and turned around to face the owner of the voice. He mumbled some apologies and then stepped aside, allowing Rapunzel to look upon the woman. Green eyes met icy blue ones and both of them gasped._

 _"Rapunzel?"_

 _"Elsa?"_

...

"It'll be okay Punz...we've masqueraded as merchants dozens of times before. We've never been caught..." Merida tried to reassure Rapunzel as they neared Corona's ship port.

Masquarading as merchants on a trading ship was something they did quite often. It was how they had gotten some of their possesions and other things. Not once had they gotten caught, but then again, none of those places were anything like Corona.

They were just two days away, and Rapunzel was getting worse and worse. She wouldn't eat, sleep, and half of the time she was lost in her own little world, neglecting her duties as a captain without meaning to. She couldn't even paint anymore.

Merida understood, of course. She finished braiding Rapunzel's hair, something she did when Rapunzel was stressed and needed to talk, and then left the room, leaving the blonde alone sitting in front of a blank canvas.

...

 _The rooms was silent. Rapunzel and Elsa were staring at eachother with both of their mouths hanging open, clearly surprised, Merida was on one knee and had taken her bow out, a confused look on her face._

 _Rapunzel stood up and stared at the woman she had once believed was dead. Elsa cracked a small smile and darted forward, throwing her arms around her cousin. Rapunzel stood still for a few seconds before hugging her back._

 _"Elsa!" Rapunzel's voice cracked._

 _"Rapunzel, what are you doing here? We...I thought you were..." Elsa couldn't finish as she detached herself from Rapunzel and looked her up and down._

 _"I...I managed to get out...with the help of Merida" Rapunzel turned and motioned for Merida to come forward. The red-head put away her bow and arrow and walked towards them._

 _"Merida this Elsa. Elsa this is Merida, my best friend, she helped me escape Corona and took care of me while I was injured."_

 _Elsa smiled at Merida and held out her hand. Merida eyed her suspiciously but shook her hand anyways. Silence followed after that, neither knowing what to say._

 _"I think we, um, we should talk" Elsa said, breaking the awkward silence._

 _Rapunzel nodded, "But, not here."_

 _"Right. Come with me, I know just the place. Oh and by the way, I apologize for Hookhand, he tends to lose his temper sometimes; he's a really sweet guy though once you get to know him."_

 _Merida scoffed and Rapunzel said nothing. They followed Elsa out of The Snuggly Duckling into the cold night._

 _"Where are we going?" Rapunzel asked as they walked away from the nasty bar._

 _Elsa smiled, "You'll see."_

 _They made their way towards the docks. Rapunzel's jaw dropped and Merida whistled as they came to stand in front of a ship._

 _"Is...is this yours?" Rapunzel asked._

 _Elsa nodded, "Yes. Ladies, you are looking at the captain of the Golden Dagger" she bowed and then stepped aside, letting Rapunzel and Merida walk up the ramp._

 _"So...this is where you've been this entire time?"_

 _"Yeah...after I left home I uh, wandered around for a while. Come on, let's go to my cabin."_

 _Rapunzel began to follow, but Merida grabbed her arm and stopped her._

 _"Are ye okay, lass?"_

 _Rapunzel hesitated, but then shook her head slightly, "I haven't seen her in years. I thought she was dead...and now she's suddenly here. I-"_

 _"Punz, come on, this way" Elsa called out._

 _Rapunzel sighed and then began to follow, Merida close behind her. Inside Elsa's cabin, they were offered to sit on the bed while Elsa grabbed a chair._

 _"You must have dozens of questions" Elsa said once they were settled._

 _"That's an understatement" Rapunzel mumbled._

 _"What was th-"_

 _"Why?" Rapunzel interrupted, she was slightly trembling and Elsa tensed up._

 _"I...Punz-"_

 _"No, you don't get to call me that. Why, Elsa? Why did you run? We all thought you were dead. Anna was wrecked, she needed you, we all needed you, and you just-" Rapunzel stopped and took a breath. Tears were brimming her eyes and her voice was wobbly._

 _"You were like my sister, and then you just left. Both Anna and I were already heartbroken when Aunt Clara and Uncle Thomas died, but then you went missing, and then shortly after Pitch...well you know the rest."_

 _Elsa's eyes were also filled with tears and it was a while before she was able to answer._

 _"I know I hurt you and Anna, and for that I am so sorry. But..mom and dad were the only ones who could help me control my powers. You knew that, Rapunzel. When I lost them...I knew that my powers would get out of control again and I just wanted to avoid hurting Anna. I almost lost her once because I couldn't control them, I wasn't about to make the same mistake again."_

A single tear ran down Rapunzel's cheeks, but she remained quiet. She stood up and walked towards Elsa. She stared down at her cousin, whom she had once seen as a sister. Looking at her now, she saw the same scared little girl she saw all those years ago when Anna had been struck by Elsa's powers.

 _She grabbed Elsa's hands and pulled her up. She smiled, and then hugged her again. Elsa buried her face on Rapunzel's shoulder and let out a small sob. The two hugged for a while, and didn't even notice when Merida slipped out of the room._

...

"Punz, you have to eat" Hiccup pushed the plate towards her again.

"I told you I'm not hungry."

Hiccup slammed his hand on the table, startling Rapunzel.

"I don't care if you aren't hungry, or that you aren't tired. You haven't eaten or slept in days and you look like crap. So you will eat this food and then you will go to sleep. I don't care if I have to tie you down, or even worse, if I have to ask Merida to knock you out again, I'll do it Punz, don't push me."

Rapunzel glared at him, and then snatched the chicken leg off of the plate and took an ungraceful bite. Hiccup watched her as she slowly finished it, and then moved on to the grapes, and then the piece of bread. He waited until she was finally full before dragging her to her bed.

"Sleep" he ordered.

Rapunzel scoffed, "Easier said than done, Hic."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at her and she layed down with a huff. She didn't really remember having fallen asleep until she was awoken by shouting. She looked yawned and stretched before getting up. She put on her boots and grabbed the old, sun shaped locket she always carried and put it on.

She braced herself, for she knew what the shouts probably meant, and then stepped out. She didnt say anything as she went to stand next to Hiccup, and neither did he. When Merida went to stand on her other side, she grabbed Rapunzel's hand and gave it a squeeze before letting go.

They were there. They had finally made it to Corona.

* * *

 **Okay, so I know this might be a tad bit late, so sorry about that. Also I feel like it could've been written better, but I was just rushing to finish it and stuff so I didn't really pay attention to editing and all of that. So, about the chapter: I don't really know the name of Elsa's parent's, they don't have a name that I am aware of so I kind of just came up with those on the spot. Also, Rapunzel is 16 in this flashback since it says that three years have gone by, and Merida is 19. I know Elsa is three years older than Rapunzel originally, but in this story I've decided to write her five years older instead of three. Also Anna and Rapunzel are almost the same age in this story. To the people who have reviewed and followed this story so far, thank you. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please feel free to tell me what you think by leaving a review. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, I have no excuses about the lateness of this chapter, it was all just pure laziness. Well that and I've also been busy with school. Being a junior who's trying to transfer schools and is questioning the meaning of life is not that easy. But anyways, enough about me. I hope you guys like this chapter, I literally spent all day writing it. Please leave a review telling me what you think and of you like the story so far maybe follow it, I don't know, it's just a suggestion. So, without further ado, I present to you, chapter 5. Enjoy :)**

* * *

Nostalgia washed over Rapunzel as she walked away from the ship, followed by Merida and Hiccup. She made her way towards the central part of town, where the courtyard and marketing place had once been.

Tears sprang to her eyes as she saw what a decade of being under Pitch's reign had done to her home. She remembered how the streets used to be filled with lively people walking around. How there used to be life and color around every corner. Now that seemed to be but a shadow of a life that had been long lost among the storm of Pitch's wrath.

Most of the people were thin, sickly thin, and their clothes were nothing but tattered rags. They walked around with dead eyes and their faces lacked any emotion. The joy that they had once felt had been long gone, snuffed out by the fear and cruelty of Pitch.

Some of the houses were still destroyed, forgotten in a pile of old, rotten wood. The sidewalks which had once held most of the stands of merchants were now mostly barren, only a handful of people stood there now.

She came to a stop once she was in the courtyard. She looked about, noticing that the mural of her and her parents was cracked and faded. The tables where people used to sit at for lunch were still there, but barely anyone sat on them anymore. The sun she had once drawn on the center of the street was long gone, the only trace of it being a few smudges of purple and gold. The only thing that hadn't changed were the people who still had their stands set up there.

She felt a hand rest on her shoulder and she turned back to see Merida. The red-head gave her a small smile and a nod. Rapunzel managed to smile back and the turned around to face the people. She took a deep breath and blinked away the tears that wanted so desperately to spill.

"Here goes nothing..." she muttered, and then approached one of the people at the stands.

...

"What's wrong?" Hiccup asked Merida in a low voice.

They were sitting down at one of the tables, watching Rapunzel talk to an elderly woman. Merida had suddenly tensed up, and Hiccup could see her toying with the bear necklace she always wore.

At first Hiccup thought she had been staring at him, but then he realized she was looking at something behind him.

"The guard" she said, motioning for Hiccup to look.

He began turning his head slowly, and then caught sight of a slim man dressed in a black shirt with a silver breastplate and helmet. There was a silver crest on his breastplate of a what looked like a wild horse. There was nothing really alarming about him, except for the fact that he kept looking back and forth at Rapunzel and the mural of her and her parents.

Hiccup turned back to face Merida. "You don't think he-" he was cut off as Merida suddenly stood and walked towards Rapunzel. As Hiccup watched her go, he realized that more guards were appearing out of nowhere, coming to stand next to that one guard. They were talking, and Hiccup could see him point at Rapunzel and then at the mural.

"Ohh...this isn't good" Hiccup muttered and got up as well, trying not to draw attention to himself as he began to follow his red-headed companion.

"What do you mean?" he heard Rapunzel ask Merida as Hiccup finally reached them.

"He recognizes ye lass. It's not safe here, we need to go" Merida answered quietly, throwing a quick glance at the guards.

"Merida's right, Punz" Hiccup said.

Rapunzel looked at guards who were standing behind Merida. The slim one had begun to walk towards them slowly.

"Let's go" Rapunzel agreed. She smiled at the elderly woman who she had been talking to and then began to walk away with Merida and Hiccup right beside her.

"How can they recognize me?" Rapunzel questioned in a hushed voice as they rounded the corner and hurried away.

"Shouldn't they think you're dead?" Hiccup asked.

"Exactly, according to everyone, I died a long time ago" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Well, ye sure don't look much like the little girl Ah met ten years ago, but ye still resemble the babe in the mural" Merida said, glancing behind them.

"Are they following us?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes".

"Should we run?"

"Hey! You three there, stop!" a guard yelled.

"Do ye really need to ask?"

...

 _"It was around midnight, but with the light of the moon I could see that she had...white hair and...sparkling blue eyes. They were dragging her towards the castle. I remember she was fighting back, trying to get away"._

 _"Did she?"_

 _The woman shook her head sadly._

 _"Before she could, they knocked the poor girl unconscious and then carried her inside. I haven't seen her since"_

The old woman's words echoed in Rapunzel's mind as she ran. The rumors were true, Elsa had been taken by Pitch.

"Don't slow down lass" Merida warned.

They were almost to the ship. The dodged the people who were going about their business and fought off any guards who got in their way. They rounded corners and tried to hurry downhill towards the dock.

 _'We'll never make it'_ Rapunzel thought as she looked back and saw how close the guards were getting. She was running behind Merida and Hiccup, her friends trying to protect her from anyone who tried to stop them.

"Merdia, I don't think we'll-" she was cut off when a guard on a black horse burst through the crowd in front of them and charged forwards. The horse reared itself on its hind legs in front of them.

Hiccup shouted something that Rapunzel couldn't understand and grabbed the Merida's arm, pulling her away towards the right meanwhile Rapunzel dodged the horse's hooves and ran to the left.

"Rapunzel" Merida shouted, but the blonde kept running, motioning with her hand for them to keep going.

Rapunzel made her way towards the bridge that connected Corona to the mainland. She could hear the hooves of the horse hitting the stone ground as it followed her. As she came upon the bridge she could see the Golden Dagger docked just where they had left it. If the crew stayed there, they could get caught, and Rapunzel didn't want to think about what would happen to them if they did.

"Jim" she screamed, startling the young boatswain who was climbing the ropes of the ship.

"Captain? What's goin-"

"Jim, GO! Get out of here."

Jim opened his mouth to speak, but then the guard on the horse rounded the corner and continued to charge after Rapunzel.

"Go back to Sarah's. I'll meet you guys there. Go! " Rapunzel shouted at him, and then kept running. She didn't look back, she already knew that Jim would follow her order.

The woods of Corona were huge, and Rapunzel prayed that she would be able to lose the guard on her tail. She wondered if Merida and Hiccup were alright. When the horse had appeared, she had hoped that separating herself from them would've turned the chase solely on her. She'd been wrong. Now, as she entered the woods, she hoped that Merida and Hiccup could find refuge and hide.

Her thoughts were drawn away from her two friends when something whizzed past her and struck the tree in front of her.

 _'An arrow! He's got a bow'_

More arrows whizzed past her, and Rapunzel cringed every time she felt them go by. She couldn't evade them forever though. She was tiring, getting slower, and she could tell that the guard knew it too.

 _'I don't know how much longer I can-'_ her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a sharp pain on her thigh, making her trip and fall down.

She heard the guard laugh, and she cursed under her breath as she clutched her wounded leg.

"Did you really think you could get away?" he asked, coming up to stand besides her. Rapunzel tried to say something, but she was already feeling too lightheaded headed from the pain. Her eye sight was getting blurry, but she could see him kneel besides her.

"Now" he said, placing his hand on the shaft of the arrow, "who are you? and why are you running?"

Rapunzel glared at him, and managed to spit out a string of curses that Merida herself would've been proud of.

The guard let out a low whistle, and then shook his head. "It's not right for such a pretty lady to have such ugly language. I am going to ask you one more time. Who are you? and why are you running?"

Rapunzel opened her mouth to let out more profanities when she caught sight of something, or someone, propped up on one of the tree branches behind the guard. The person seemed curious, staring intently at the scene unfolding.

"What are you look-Agh"

Rapunzel cut off the guard with a fist full of dirt and leaves to the face and then tried to scramble away from him. He was furious, obviously, and Rapunzel screamed in pain when he gripped the arrow and pulled it out of her leg. His eyes were closed, but his grip on Rapunzel's injured leg was still strong.

"You stupid little-" he didn't finish his sentence, again.

Rapunzel was delirious now, the pain blinding her. Things were moving slowly, and she watched in confusion as the body of the man who had just ripped out the arrow from her leg dropped to the floor. She let her head fall back to rest on the floor, trying stay awake, but she was losing blood now, and fast.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked. It sounded muffled, and she tried to answer but she could barely speak. A boy came into her line of sight, and the last thing she saw before everything went black, were a pair of brown eyes that seemed to be flickering blue.


	6. Chapter 6

Rarely anyone entered the woods of Corona, and those who did usually just turned around and walked right back. So when a beautiful blonde girl came barreling in with a guard on her tail, Jack was more than surprised.

He'd been out for a walk, as usual, and was on the process of climbing a tree when she dashed by, arrows flying past her and a man on a horse chasing her.

'What the...' Jack thought, his heart slightly racing from being startled.

He could tell by the uniform of the man that it was a guard, and Jack quickly scrambled up the tree to hide behind the leaves. It had been years since he'd seen a guard, and the mere sight of one unnerved him greatly.

He peeked his head out slightly and watched as the blonde girl fell, and arrow sticking out of her leg. The guard got down from his horse and walked towards her, his ugly laugh loud enough to reach Jack's ears.

The guard went to stand next to her, and then knelt down to grip the shaft of the arrow. Jack could hear him speak, but it was hard to make out what he was saying.

He looked at the girl laying there and at the dirty hand of the guard that gripped the arrow, and for some odd reason, Jack felt compelled to help her. He didn't know who she was, he had never before seen her in his life, and yet there was something about her that felt...familiar. He slowly crept out from the leaves that concealed him. He could hear the girl start to speak, and his eyes widened as he heard the words that came out of her mouth.

The guard whistled and shook his head, " It's not right for such a pretty lady to have such ugly language. Now, I am going to ask you one more time. Who are you? and why are you running?" Jack heard him ask.

The girl looked like she was about to answer, but then her eyes caught sight of him and locked with his. Her eyes lingered on him long enough that the guard then began to turn around, a question starting to leave his lips. She seemed to take advantage of the fact that he was distracted and grabbed a fistful of dirt and twigs, shoving them at his face.

Jack heard him cry out and then his eyes widened as he saw her try to scramble away in vain. The guard was clearly angry, and he grabbed the arrow and yanked it out.

Jack hadn't even thought twice about it. As soon as he heard her scream out in pain Jack jumped down and grabbed the nearest thing he could find, which was a rock the size of his foot, and rushed to the guard. Jack swung the rock hard and hit him in the head and his body crumpled.

Jack wasn't surprised to see blood on the rock, the hit had been a hard one after all, but he just hoped it hadn't been hard enough to kill him. The sound of groaning made him look up from the bloodied rock. The girl. She was barely conscious.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked as he dropped the rock and went to kneel next to her.

Her head lolled from side to side and her unfocused eyes were roaming everywhere, until they locked onto his. Jack had never seen such green eyes before, and their intensity startled him. Up close she was even more beautiful. She lost consciousness, and Jack cursed.

He didn't want to leave her hear to die from the loss of blood, but he also didn't want to risk taking her to were him and Mia were. He'd spent years keeping his little sister safe. He'd taken many precautions to make sure they stayed hidden from Pitch and his men, and while Jack didn't think this girl was working for him or anything like that, he still didn't know who she was.

The girl shifted and groaned in pain. If Jack left her here, she would definitely die, and for some odd reason the thought made him feel sick. She was a complete stranger, and yet he felt like he couldn't do that to her.

He prayed he wasn't making a mistake and then he lifted her in his arms and began to walk back to his home, deep within the forest.

...

Merida was freaking out as she paced from one side of the room to the other.

"How could Ah have let her go?" she kept muttering, while Hiccup tried fruitlessly to calm her down. After they'd gotten separated form Rapunzel, they kept running deeper into the town, the group of men still chasing them. The deeper they went into Corona, the more people there seemed to be milling out in the streets, making it easy for him and Merida to get lost in the crowd for a few seconds before someone spotted her bright red hair.

As they had turned a random corner Hiccup caught sight of a sign hanging from a post in front of a large building. The writing was faded but Hiccup could make out the faint word Motel. He grabbed Merida's hand and ran for the door. He threw it open and pushed her inside.

They had been able to get a room for a month, both agreeing that it should be enough time to find Rapunzel.

"Merida, you need to calm down. Freaking out won't exactly help us find her" Hiccup said as he watched her pace back and forth from his seat on the bed.

"What if she's hurt? Ah am supposed to protect her Hiccup, how could Ah have let her go-"

"Merida you didn't have choice" Hiccup said.

Hiccup rose to his feet and walked over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders and stopping her mindless pacing.

"Look I know you worried, I am too, but like you once said, we need to keep our heads if we are to find her and get out of this place alive. Rapunzel is strong, she's our Captain, she'll be fine."

Merida sniffed and nodded. She looked up at him and for a few seconds neither said anything, but then she averted her eyes and looked down at her feet. He finally realized how close to her he was, and he took a step back. The conversation they'd had at the steering wheel that one night on the ship came back to him, but he pushed it aside, knowing now was not the time for that.

"It's getting late Mer, we should go to sleep."

There was only one bed, and as Merida went to lay down, Hiccup picked up a pillow and dropped it on the floor.

"What are ye doing?" Merida asked.

"I was going to sleep on the floor."

"Why?"

"Well, I thought you would be more comfortable having the bed to yourself..."

Merida shook her head, "Hiccup its okay, ye can sleep here too, Ah don't mind."

"Really?" Hiccup asked.

Merida nodded.

Hiccup picked up the pillow and put it back on the bed. He took off his shoes and his shirt. He put out the candle that had been giving them light and the room was flooded with darkness. The only light now was coming from the window, as the moon took its place high in the sky and illuminated them in it's otherworldly light.

As Hiccup laid down he finally took notice of how exhausted he really was and drifted off to sleep almost instantly.

* * *

 **I'm sorry I took forever to upload, I've just been really busy and I was sort of having a slight writer's block. Now about this chapter: It was more like a filler chapter, and I hate writing those so that's also why I kind of procrastinated writing this one. About Jack's sister, I know a lot of people usually name her Emma, but me and my good friend Wolfgirl619 (who helped me plan out this story) decided to go with something different. I hope you guys liked the chapter and I would like to thank those of you who have Favorited/Followed this story, it really means a lot. Please review and tell me what you think and I'll see you guys next time :)**


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing she noticed when she awoke was the bright light streaming from a window on the far right corner of the room. She didn't recognize her surroundings, and panic soon set in as she struggled to get up, a throbbing pain on her leg being the only thing keeping her from fully doing so.

'What the hell...' she thought as she looked at her bandaged thigh. It took a few seconds for her memories to return and she shivered at the thought. She'd been struck by an arrow by some measly guard who was chasing her. As she began to recollect her memories worry began to set as she realized that she didn't know what had happened to Merida and Hiccup. She didn't know if her friends had somehow made it to the ship before it took off, or if they'd went deeper into the town and hid.

'What if they were caught?' a voice inside her head asked, but she quickly shook her head, the thought too disturbing to even think about. But even so, what would happen to them if Pitch caught them? Would he kill them? Or would he imprison them and manipulate them to his use like he did with Elsa?

Elsa.

Her cousin. The sole reason Rapunzel had even risked making the journey here. She wondered how she had fallen into Pitch's hands, and more importantly, how she had survived in the first place.

...

The wind whipped Rapunzel's golden locks as she tried to make her way to Elsa. The ship was already rocking from side to side, rain pouring down making it hard to see and the floor slippery.

"Captain!" she yelled, but her voice was drowned by the winds in her fruitless attempt to catch her cousin's attention as she argued with another man from the crew.

They were sailing straight into the storm, and if they wanted to avoid it they would have to turn and go around, soon. The argument grew more heated, and Rapunzel watched as the man pushed Elsa away from the wheel, making her stumble backwards and trip. She fell on her bum and cursed loudly.

'We don't have much time' Rapunzel thought as she rushed forwards, reaching her cousin in time to help her up.

The ship rocked violently as a huge waved slammed against it, making Rapunzel fall to her knees while Elsa gripped the railing.

The man, he was sailing them straight into the storm.

'Is he...trying to kill us?' Rapunzel felt sick and groaned.

It was too late to turn back, and the man struggled to keep the ship from toppling upside down. The winds grew stronger, the rain poured harsher, and the waves were an uncontrollable force.

The man was too distracted to notice Elsa surge forwards with her gun in her hand. She swung the weapon and struck the man on the side of the head. His body crumpled and Elsa quickly took control of the wheel.

Rapunzel struggled to her feet and could hear Elsa barking orders. Her eyes searched the deck for any sign of wild red hair, but she found none. The last time she'd seen Merida was when they were first approaching the storm. She'd gone below decks while Rapunzel helped out above.

"Rapunzel!" Elsa called, and her attention was drawn back to her cousin. She would've asked what she needed to do, but another wave crashed against the ship, making her loose her footing once more and topple down the stairs onto the main deck, darkness following soon after.

...

The door opened abruptly, startling Rapunzel from her thoughts. It was the boy, the one who had been perched up on the trees.

"You're awake!" he sounded surprised.

Rapunzel couldn't force herself to talk, so she just gave him a slight nod. The room grew awkwardly quiet, and the boy cleared his throat before moving to sit on the chair by the bed.

"I uh, brought some food" he said, and Rapunzel finally took notice of the small plate in his hands containing apple slices and a loaf of bread.

She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she saw the food, and she struggled to sit up, wincing from the pain the went through her leg. The boy noticed, but didn't say anything. He held out his hand to her, and she hesitated for a moment before taking it. He pulled her up gently and placed a cushion behind her to help her lean against the wall.

"T-thank you" she rasped out.

The boy nodded, and then handed her the plate, "No problem".

Rapunzel wolfed down the food in minutes, and smiled at the thought of how horrified her governess would've been if she had seen her. After she finished, she noticed the amused look the boy wore on his face as he took the plate from her.

"How long have I been out?" she asked, inspecting her bandaged leg.

"Almost two days".

Rapunzel gasped and whipped her head to look at him.

"What?"

"Mhmm. You lost consciousness from the all of the blood you lost, thankfully though I was able to get you here in time to clean the wound and bandage it".

"Oh, thank you. If you don't mind me asking though, where am I?"

She surveyed the room, and found that there wasn't much in it. There was the table beside the bed where the empty plate rested, the window, and an old desk. The ceiling looked like it was ready to collapse at any given moment, all it would take would be punching it at the right spot or removing the right piece of wood. The floor didn't look much better.

The boy shook his head, "Sorry Pretty Eyes, but I'll be asking the questions here" he said, leaning back on the chair and crossing his arms.

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow, mimicking him and crossing her arms as well. She would've argued and said she wouldn't speak unless he answered her questions first, but this boy had saved her life, she owed him at least that.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Why were you being chased by the Pitch's royal guards?" he started.

"Your guess is as good as mine, I was just talking to an elderly woman in the market when my friends noticed we were being watched, and shortly after followed".

"Friends? You mean you're not alone here? There's other people with you who were being chased too?"

Rapunzel nodded, casting her gaze downwards to the floor, trying to mask her worry. The boy was quiet for a moment.

"What happened?" his voice was soft, as if he knew the subject of her friends was a fragile topic, and it truly was.

"We...we were running, got lost in the crowd of people, when out of nowhere this horse appeared right in front of us. We got separated, and I ran, I told them to keep going, hoping that the guards would just turn their attention on me and leave them alone..."

"And that's not what happened".

Rapunzel shook her head.

The boy scooted the chair closer to the bed, ducking his head to try and look her in the eyes. Rapunzel wanted to avoid that, but she found it hard, his icy blue eyes seeming to pull her green ones to look at him.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice serious.

Rapunzel debated telling one of two things, either that she was a pirate captain whose crew had left her here at her request, or that she was the long lost princess of Corona. She decided on neither. She barely knew this boy, but even so she doubted he'd hurt her. She wasn't ready to tell him who she was or what she was, but she still felt like she could trust him. If he proved to be the good person her gut told her he was, then she'd reveal her identity, with due time.

"Look, you saved my life, and for that I am grateful, but I don't know you. I can't tell you who I am, not yet".

"Then what am I supposed to call you, if I can't even know your name?"

Rapunzel smiled, "Well, all of my friends call me Punz, so how about that?"

He arched an eye brow and smirked.

"Punz? Hmmmm... I think I like Pretty Eyes better, it suits you more anyways" he said, smiling as she rolled her eyes.

"Alright, fine. Now its my turn to ask, who are you?"

The boy smirked again, which Rapunzel found slightly irritating but also somewhat charming.

"My name's Jackson," he extended his hand out to her, which she took with a questioning look, and shook it firmly, "but you can call me Jack".

* * *

 **Sorry this took so long to upload, I've been kind of in the dumps and found it hard to concentrate on writing. Thanks to those of you who have followed or favorited this story, it honestly means alot. I hope you guys liked this chapter, please leave a review telling me what you think. Until next time :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The slight tickle in his nose was what finally woke up Hiccup. He wiggled it, only to make the itch worse. He could feel a sneeze coming, and he groaned. He tried to cover up his nose, only to find that his hand was entangled in a mass of red curls. Red curls that seemed to be everywhere. What Hiccup registered next was the warm, slim body curled up next to his. His arm wrapped firmly around it.

He gasped, trying to pull away, only to drag Merida along with him by the hand that was still tangled in her hair.

"Ouch, what the hell?" she groaned, sitting up in bed, rubbing her head.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up" Hiccup stammered.

"What's wrong Hic? Yer face looks like ah tomato" Merida pointed out, smirking as his face grew even redder.

"N-nothing, I was just startled and well, my hand is kind of trapped in your hair" Hiccup raised his hand in emphasis.

"Oh...what startled ye Hic?" Merida asked, trying to untangle her hair from Hiccup's hand.

Hiccup was quiet, which in turn made Merida pause what she was doing.

"Hic?"

Hiccup scratched his head with his free hand, not looking at Merida. "We...uh...we were sleeping really close, and I uh, I sort of had my arm around your waist and..."

Hiccup's words died in his throat and he looked up to see Merida's face was now red as well, almost matching her hair. He didn't know if it was the awkwardness of the situation that triggered it, but Hiccup let out a small chuckle, which only made Merida's blush deepen, which made Hiccup's chuckle turn into full out laughter.

Merida glared at him and grabbed her pillow, tossing it at him. It hit Hiccup square in the face, the force of it making him fall off the bed. Merida felt her mistake before she realized it. As Hiccup fell, Merida felt a sharp tug in her head, and found herself following Hiccup and tumbling off the bed as well.

She landed on him with a startled cry, her elbow making contact with his nose. Hiccup protested and Merida groaned.

They were a mess. But that only made the situation even more comical. Hiccup's laughter began to echo off the walls again, followed shortly by Merida's. At one point she snorted, and that only made it worse.

It was madness. Her bestfriend was who knows where, probably being captured by the enemy at that very moment, and yet here she was laughing like she hadn't in ages as if she had all the time in the world. But as she sat there, she thought that maybe this was her body's way of releasing all of that stress. After trying to hold in so much her body decided that she needed some sort of release. And this was it. This moment of hysterical laughter was her way of releasing her worries and doubts, and for a moment, her cries of laughter turned into cries of agony, mixing together, before being drowned out by the simple humor of the moment.

After a while, when they were too exhausted to laugh and the tears in their eyes made it impossible for them to see, they stopped, and just lay on the floor next to eachother.

Merida sighed, "Ah haven't laughed like that in quite a long time".

Hiccup smiled and turned to look at her.

"Me either. I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed my way into tears".

Merida met his gaze. "Ah do".

Hiccup arched an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes. It was like a year ago, ye and Ah were in the kitchen at the Benbow trying to make Punz a cake for her birthday. Ah wasn't too careful with the flower and Ah ended up tearing the bag open, it was everywhere".

"Oh yeah! The look in your face was priceless" Hiccup chuckled.

Merida's smile was brief before it was replaced with a serious expression.

"Hic...what if we don't find her? What if she was taken by...by _him_?" her voice shook, and she had to bite her lip to keep herself from letting out a whimper.

Rapunzel was like a little sister to Merida. She'd been protecting and keeping watch on the lass for ten years. Having lost her like this was tearing her apart, and Hiccup could tell.

"Mer, we're going to find her. We'll stop at nothing to get her back" Hiccup murmured. He turned to lay on his side, and Merida did the same.

"Ye promise?"

Hiccup reached out and gently touched her cheek, wiping the tear she hadn't known she'd shed away.

"I promise".

* * *

 **Why did it take me so long to update such a short chapter? Well, I had wanted to add more to it but I couldn't quite find a good transition for it. I don't know when I'll update again and I apologize for being so lousy at it. I hope you guys liked this small chapter. I guess I just wanted to show what had happened while Punz was still asleep at Jack's cabin. Until next time :)**


	9. Chapter 9

She had nightmares again, but this time they were different. This time she wasn't trapped in a burning castle, constantly running from the flames and darkness that chased her. Nor was she in the middle of the sea, fruitlessly searching for Elsa under a raging storm.

She instead stood in the middle of a claiming darkness. It latched on to everything in its path, claiming it as its own. It slithered from object to object, slowly making its way towards her. It wanted her, and she knew it. She turned, desperate looking for a way out, but there was none. She was surrounded. As it got closer, she could make out the distinct noise of muffled crying. Thousands of voices from within it cried out, in agony, sadness, anger...they all wanted out, they wanted to be free. But once the darkness caught you, freedom became nothing but a fantasy.

She trembled furiously, and her breathing turned ragged. The closer it got, the louder the voices became, and the heavier everything felt. She could barely keep herself standing.

The darkness reached out, little tendrils of black sand slithering through the air towards her. She placed her shaking hand over her mouth to stop the sob that wanted so badly to come out. The fear was unbearable. It gripped her tight and rendered her motionless. She couldn't run away, there was nowhere to go.

She stood there shaking, tears threatening to spill as she watched it get closer. The darkness stood but a breath away from her face, taunting her. A tear finally slid down her cheek and fell to the dark ground. She wouldn't have noticed, if it weren't for the fact that the ground cracked once the tear made contact with it. A tiny fissure was made, and from it, a small patch of golden light began to pour out.

...

It was hard to get used to being in bed all day. Rapunzel wanted to get up, to at least be able to walk outside. Being in the small room all day, doing nothing but worrying about Merida and Hiccup, was driving her mad.

Jack would come and talk to her from time to time whenever she needed to have her wound cleaned or her bandage changed, telling her stories about how life had been for him back in the good old days. He didn't talk about his parents, but Rapunzel could make a good enough guess as to what had happened to them.

He told her about his sister, and on her second day there, during dinner, she finally met her.

Amelia was her name, but Jack called her Mia. She also bore the same chocolate colored eyes and brown hair as him. She was a lovely girl, and Rapunzel took a liking to her immediately.

A week had now passed of her being there, and she finally decided she was done with being bedridden. After Mia exited the room with her empty plate of food, Rapunzel threw off the thin bed cover and set down one foot on the floor. She looked at her injured leg, freshly bandaged. The wound was already closing, and it didn't hurt too bad to move it anymore.

She knew it would still take more time for her to be able to walk normally, but she had to at least give standing a try.

She gently moved her leg and lowered it so that her bare foot touched the cool wooden floor. She placed one hand on the small bedside table and the other on the old mattress, took a deep breath, and then slowly began to lift herself off the bed. She winced as pain began to flare on her leg, but she didn't stop.

She was tired of feeling helpless, and useless. The chances of Merida and Hiccup being captured grew bigger with each passing day she stayed like that. She knew they would be looking for her, with Merida being too stubborn and Hiccup having a 'No man left behind' rule.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Rapunzel started, her concentration left her and her knees buckled underneath her. She cried out as she hit the floor, and instantly Jack was at her side. His brown eyes were full of concern, annoyance, and...amusement?

"Are you okay?" he asked as he helped her get up and sit on the bed.

She nodded, not looking at him, instead directing her attention to her leg.

"Punz, what was that?"

Rapunzel shrugged, "I was trying to stand".

Jack arched an eyebrow, kneeling in front of her.

"Okay, but why?"

"Why do you think?"

Now it was Jack who shrugged, "Well I don't know. You could've been trying to escape and go find your friends for all I know".

Rapunzel laughed a humorless laugh, still not looking at him. "Right, cause I would be stupid enough to go out in the open injured and unarmed". She didn't mean for her voice to come out bitter, but it did, and Jack caught on to her harsh tone.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Rapunzel shook her head, sighing. She wanted to vent to him, to explain how frustrated and useless she felt just laying down all day doing nothing. She wanted to know where Merida and Hiccup were, because the worry was suffocating her. She wanted to find her cousin, and get her as far away from this place as possible. But most of all, she wanted to get rid of the overwhelming feeling of weakness that just kept nagging her in the back of her mind. She felt like she was drowning in this sea of her own insecurities and worries.

Rapunzel was tired. Tired of the emotional strain that was being put on her heart. Tired of the crushing weight on her shoulders from realizing that if she didn't put a stop to Pitch, everyone would be doomed.

She hadn't even realized she had started crying until Jack sat next to her and placed his arm around her, pulling her close and letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

Rapunzel wasn't one who would normally break in front of a stranger like that, but she couldn't hold it together anymore. She'd been bottling up her emotions ever since they'd set course for Corona, and now she was finally letting them all loose. The imaginary bottle in her mind where she would store them all away had broken, and they all flowed out.

Jack held her as the tears streamed down her cheeks and her body shook with each sob that tumbled out of her lips. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. The simple act of holding her brought Rapunzel enough comfort.

Crying exhausted her, and after all her tears had dried and her breathing had evened, she let herself lean back and rest against Jack's chest. At what moment he had positioned them so that he was leaning against the headboard of the bed and she was sitting in between his legs with his arms around her she didn't know, but she also didn't care.

Jack, for some odd reason, calmed her. He made her feel at ease.

...

"That stuff smells disgusting, it's inhumane to make me try it".

Jack rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed.

"Well if it stinks so bad then don't smell it" he reasoned.

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes at him. "How can I not when you're waving it in front of my face?" She crossed her arms and turned away.

Jack groaned and stood from the chair, stomping out of the room and muttering things under his breath.

Ever since Rapunzel's fall from two days before, her leg had started to ache badly again.

After having a small breakfast with Mia that morning, Jack had bounced into the room holding a spoonful of black goo, claiming it was medicine to make her feel better. As soon as the thing came near her lips its stench had reached her nose and she had to turn away before she vomited the small apple and bread she'd eaten.

"She's being stubborn and acting like a child, you might as well go talk to her since she won't listen to me" she could hear Jack's voice from the other room.

"Hey, I can hear you, you know!" she yelled.

"Yeah, I do know. You were meant to hear me" he yelled back.

She would've responded, but Mia entered the room and closed the door. She grinned at Rapunzel and then sat down on the chair Jack had previously occupied. She held the spoon with goo in her hands.

Mia held up her hand when she saw Rapunzel open her mouth to argue. "I know what you're going to say, but listen to me first". She waited patiently until Rapunzel nodded, agreeing to listen.

"Jack isn't lying when he says this is medicine. I know it looks like something he scraped off of the bottom of the toilet, but trust me, it'll help make the pain in your leg go away".

"How do you know?"

Mia smiled, "I know because he gave it to me when I became ill a few months ago. If Jack hadn't given it to me, I would've died".

Rapunzel gasped, but Mia's smile didn't fade. "I only know of one person who sells this kind of medicine, and they live deep within the town. Jack must have gone before breakfast to get his hands on it".

"But..." Rapunzel was baffled, "Why would he risk himself like that just because of some simple leg pains? They would've gone away eventually".

Mia shrugged, "Who knows why Jack does a lot of the things he does". But the smug look on Mia's face said something different.

"Anyways, you have to take this, even if it smells like something that died last year" Mia said and held up the spoon.

Rapunzel eyed the goo warily, but took the spoon anyways. Jack had gone out of his way to get this stuff for her. She couldn't help but smile at the thought of it. She knew from what Mia had told her that Jack and her had been hiding from Pitch ever since what most people called, The Fall of Corona had happened. She didn't elaborate much, but she knew that her and her brother would be in great danger if they were ever caught. To think that Jack had risked so much by going into the town to get her medicine warmed Rapunzel's heart and caused a funny fluttery feeling in her stomach.

So with that thought in her mind, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and took the big spoonful of goo.

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. It would've been up sooner, but I didn't have internet where I was previously staying. It looks like this will be my last post of the year. I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas(if you happen to celebrate it) and here's to a wonderful New Year's Eve. Until next time :)**


	10. Chapter 10

The distant noise of a faucet dripping echoed through the vast dungeon. The air smelled of wet grass.

She was curled up in one of the dark corners of her cell. She traced her fingers along the cold metal bars, leaving a small trail of ice.

A door's hinges creaked in the distance and she stopped her roaming fingers. Dropping her hand onto her knees, she turned her head slightly, watching as a shadow of a man grew bigger and he approached her cell. As the man came into view she dropped her eyes to the floor. She hated looking at them. Hated looking at their harsh yellow eyes.

He slipped a small tray of food through the small hole at the bottom of the door. She ignored it, noting that this was not the usual guard who brought her her meals. She kept her eyes on the floor, waiting for the man to leave. But he didn't. Through her peripheral vision she saw as he looked around to make sure no one was around before leaning into the bars.

"I'm guessing you haven't heard the news, have you?" he asked, his mocking voice hinting at a smile that she had no interest in seeing.

"Some of the guards here talk about a girl, with golden blonde hair, walking around town asking about a certain someone with white hair and icy blue eyes. Someone who could...I don't know, control snow...or something".

She tensed as he spit out every taunting word at her. He laughed seeing her reaction.

"Now you don't think it could be her? The lost princess with golden hair, coming back from the dead to reclaim her throne".

At the word princess, her hands tightened their grip on her knees, and a thin sheet of ice began to spread around her. The man laughed again, taking her reacting as confirmation. "Well I'll be damned...so it is true...the princess of Corona lives..."

He stepped away from the cell, and turned around to walk away. As his shadow grew smaller, she rose from her corner and walked towards the front of the cell. She kicked the tray of food aside and clutched the bars.

She heard the sound of the door opening, and then a loud clang as it was slammed shut. She hoped the guard was lying, but her gut told her he wasn't. Rapunzel was back in Corona. And she was looking for _her_. A feeling of relief and dread filled her at the same time. For the first time in a long time, the ex-queen of Arendelle began to have a small glimmer of hope.

...

"She has to have gone to have gone into the woods, there's no other place".

Merida stared out the small window of her and Hiccup's room.

"What makes you think that?"

"Think about it Hic. We've retraced Punz's steps, there are only two places she could've gone. Either to the other side of town, or the woods outside of Corona. Ye know Rapunzel, she wouldn't risk staying in the town, she would've headed into the woods."

Hiccup nodded, "Yes, I understand that. But Mer, we still can't write off the possibility of her being here. We still haven't checked all of Corona".

"Do ye honestly want to go around all of Corona with our heads low and our hoods up, hopelessly looking for a sign that she might be here?"

Hiccup was quiet, thinking. Merida watched as he tapped his fingers against his knee and his eyebrows furrowed as he thought her words through. She knew, just from a week of searching, that Rapunzel wasn't here. She knew Rapunzel better than anyone else on the ship. If Rapunzel had stayed in the town, she and Hiccup would've found her, she knew that much.

But the woods outside of Corona were also massive, and if she had hidden there, who knows how long it would take them to find her. And there was also the dilemma of finding a way to leave Corona.

A small drop of water landed on the window's glass, followed by another, and another. A loud rumbling sound erupted from the gray sky. She heard Hiccup sigh. "Looks like we won't be going out to look for her today..."

Merida placed her hand against the cool glass. She looked up at the sky and prayed her friend was safe. Prayed that they could all make it out of Corona alive.

...

"It's raining..." Rapunzel murmured to no one in particular, watching the raindrops fall through the bedroom's window. The soft sound of the water hitting the roof brought back memories. She remembered being a small child, hearing the sound of the rain, and excitedly running outside. She remembered dancing in the palace gardens, twirling around to the sound of a song only she could hear. She had always been fond of the rain, and the joyful memories they evoked.

It felt surreal, thinking that at point in her life, she'd lived in a place with marble floors and beautiful dresses. And now the only place she recognized as home had wooden floors and sailed the seas.

She felt a wave of nostalgia hit her, and she suddenly longed to go outside. To once again dance in the rain.

She yawned, exhausted from having stayed up all night talking to Jack. It was a new habit that they'd somehow picked up. Every night, since her failed attempt to walk, he'd come into her room once Emma was asleep. They'd light a small candle, and he'd sit on the foot of her bed. Sometimes he was telling her a story, or listening as she told some of hers.

She hadn't revealed to him that she was a pirate yet, and every time she told him about some of her previous adventures, she had to make up a character and change a few details.

Sometimes they wouldn't tell stories at all. They would instead talk about dreams. What they had dreamed of doing when they were children, and what they hoped to do in the future. They talked about anything and everything, the warm light the candle emitted providing a sense of trust and comfort. It felt like in those moments, they could say anything, without worrying about being misunderstood or judged.

Rapunzel hadn't realized she was falling asleep until the harsh crash of thunder jolted her into a sitting position, shaking the sleepiness away. She covered her ears and shut her eyes, but it was no use, the memory had already been triggered.

...

 _The lurching of the ship was what woke her again. She had a brief moment of confusion, forgetting where she was, and why everything was wet and cold. The shouting of men and the crashing of thunder was what brought it all back._

 _She rose quickly, and spotted Elsa as she struggled to keep the ship upright. When their eyes locked, Elsa motioned with her head for Rapunzel to join her. Rapunzel rushed towards her cousin, stumbling on the slippery floor and unsteady motion of the ship._

 _"I need you to do something for me" Elsa shouted._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"I need you to go over to that man and roll him over. Pull up his sleeves and tell me what color his veins are."_

 _Rapunzel raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue. She stumbled over to the man's fallen body, grunting as she struggled to roll him over on his back. She tore open his sleeves and rolled them up. She gasped._

 _"Elsa..."_

 _"What color are they?"_

 _Rapunzel stared aghast at his arm. She ripped his shirt open, and almost threw up._

 _"Rapunzel, what color are they?"_

 _She turned to face her cousin, "They're black. His veins are black."_

 _Elsa cursed, but didn't look surprised._

 _"What's wrong with him?" Rapunzel asked as she joined Elsa behind the wheel._ _Elsa sighed, "Let's say, he's caught something that's along the lines of a plague, except this kind of plague won't kill you."_

 _"What does it do then?"_

 _"It weakens your mind, leaves you vulnerable and turns you into one of Pitch's puppets, and you're basically under his control"._

 _Rapunzel felt dazed, and not only from the hit she received on her head. "But...how-"_

 _"I don't know how the people get infected, but I've heard rumors, stories from people who are either related or know the people under Pitch's control. They all claim that the victims would be acting fine one day and then the next they'd be completely different. Within a week any trace of the person they used to be is gone, and within a few months, the people die. It may not be a normal disease but it is still a disease nonetheless"._

 _Rapunzel was quiet, pondering Elsa's words. If that were indeed true...then the people back home, the people of Corona...that could've happened to them, it could still be happening up this day. That would explain why Pitch always seemed to be on the move. Conquering kingdoms after kingdoms. Too lost in thought, Rapunzel failed to notice the huge wave heading their way. She felt it before she saw it. Her head snapped back as the impact lurched her forward. The next thing she knew, she was being pressed against the rail by the enormous amount of water that swept over the deck. She kept her eyes tightly shut, not opening them until her body slumped on the ground, and she was sputtering water from her mouth. The ship rocked violently, and she looked up towards the wheel._

 _It took her a moment to realized what the sight before her eyes meant. The wheel was spinning like crazy. No one stood there to control it. Elsa was gone. Rapunzel scrambled to her feet, using the rail for support. But before she could make her way to the wheel, she noticed a ripped piece of fabric caught on one of the rail's gaps. It was a blue piece of cloth, belonging to Elsa's blue shirt... Rapunzel shook her head, and let out a sob._

 _She leaned over the rail, frantically searching the murky waters while trying to maintain herself on her feet. She desperately looked for any sign of white hair._

 _She could feel her eyes brimming with tears._

 _She watched through blurry vision another huge wave barreled towards the ship. She could hear someone shout her name, but she ignored them. She let her head hang for a second, another sob tumbling out, before lifting her head to the sky, letting out a heart wrenching scream._

 _"ELSA!"_

* * *

 **Okay. SO, I know that Punz may be slightly over reacting to Elsa's death, or maybe she isn't, but in this story, before everything went to hell and Elsa disappeared, her, Anna, and Rapunzel were really close. Elsa was like the big sister Rapunzel never had, and losing her the first time was extremely hard on her, losing her a second time was just unbearable. ANyways, I hope you guys liked it. I know that in the next chapter I'll finally move things along and all four of our main characters will finally leave Corona. If you enjoyed this chapter, even though it wasn't that great, please leave a review :) Until next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

The first time Rapunzel had seen Jack's eyes flicker blue, she thought maybe the loss of blood from her leg wound had somehow made her see things. After their first proper introduction she'd spent the night reliving everything. The old woman telling her about Elsa, running away from guards with Merida and Hiccup, then suddenly being separated, everything up to the point where the guard's body crumpled to the floor, and a huge pair of chocolate brown eyes appeared in front of her. They were mesmerizing on their own, but seeing them flickering into an entirely different shade had really taken her breath away, but she suspected that was just because she passed out three seconds later.

Now, standing outside Jack's cabin, surrounded by a dozen men in black, Mia nowhere in sight, Rapunzel saw it happen again. His body was tense, and the look in his eyes screamed murder.

That day marked two weeks since she'd first been brought to the cabin. It had started out as a lovely day, and Rapunzel had silently swore to not forget.

..

It was early morning, and Rapunzel, as usual, awoke with the sun. She always loved seeing the sunrise, it felt so peaceful. Jack had knocked on the door before entering. He didn't look at all surprised to see her awake.

"Good morning" He said, sitting down at the end of the bed. The light from the window hit the side of his face, catching his brown eyes and sparking a thousand new colors that had been hidden in between the dark shades of brown.

Rapunzel smiled, "Good morning".

Jack lowered his head, his cheeks looking flushed, but Rapunzel thought nothing of it.

"What are you doing up so early? Lately you've been waking up during the late mornings" she asked. Jack shrugged.

"I had an idea."

"What kind of idea?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. In the sunlight, his hair also looked different. When he stood in the shadows, it looked a simple, rich brown, but in the sunlight, his hair took on a coppery hue.

"You wouldn't happen to have any plans today, would you?" he joked, laughing when Rapunzel narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'll take that as a no."

She turned away from him, her attention drawn once again to the rising sun. Most people said looking directly into the sun was painful and would blind a person, but with Rapunzel it wasn't like that. It was like her eyes had developed and immunity, and she could stare at the bright orb in the sky for hours, and not once complain.

"Lucky for you, though," Jack continued, "I do have plans today. For both of us."

Rapunzel looked at him again and raised an eyebrow. Jack got up, walking towards the window, his hands behind his back. He was looking out at the trees, but unlike Rapunzel, his eyes were squinted as the bright light of the sun hit them.

"It's been almost two weeks of you just wasting your days away being lazy on that bed" he stated, but before Rapunzel could retort he continued talking.

"So I thought it would be quite nice to, I don't know, get out of here...take a walk in the woods" he finished nonchalantly. He turned back to Rapunzel, and the sight of her wide eyes made him smile.

"R-really?" she asked, almost afraid he was just playing a cruel joke on her. She'd been dreaming of getting up from her comfy prison for what felt like forever now.

Jack nodded, and Rapunzel broke out into a huge smile. Mia walked in, holding an old, round basket. In it were some apples and other fruits and foods neatly stacked. She smiled at Rapunzel, sent Jack a knowing look, and then walked out.

Jack had then proceeded to help her up. It was hard, and her legs trembled after spending so much time being unused, but she still managed to stay standing. Her first few steps were even harder. Her wound had closed and was mostly healed, but the muscle was still sore. Jack held her hands as she gripped them tightly for support. He whispered encouraging things in her ear while helping her walk slowly towards the other side of the room. They ended up doing that for a while, walking back and forth from one wall to the other, until Rapunzel's legs were no longer shaking and she felt stable enough to stand on her own.

She was leaning against the wall that was opposite of her bed, when Jack let go of her hands and walked back a few paces. He didn't say anything, but then again he didn't need to. As soon as he spread out his hands and smiled encouragingly at her, she understood.

She gulped, and braced her hands against the wall, pushing herself to stand up straight. She let go of the wall's support and brought her hands forward, reaching out to him as she took a tentative step towards him.

"You've got this Punz" he said, and she smiled. Her second step came easier, and soon she was wobbling towards him with a huge smile on her face. She collapsed against him, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you" Rapunzel murmured, her face buried into his shoulder. His hugged her tighter, and then let her go. He held out his arm and she looped hers through it.

"Come on, you've got an entire forest to explore and I have an entire basket of food to eat. Let's go" he said. Rapunzel laughed, and together they slowly made their way out of the cabin.

Their day out was splendid, in Rapunzel's opinion, and by noon she was able to walk normally, without Jack's help.

He showed her things like his favorite spots to star gaze, the tree where he'd once fallen from and gained a small scar on his left arm. And then the came upon the small pond. Rapunzel would've called it a lake, but it was far too small for that.

They sat near the edge of the water, and both grabbed an apple from the baskets. It was quiet, the only noise being the sound of the wildlife and their own mindless chewing.

After a while Jack had broken the silence, and they began to have one of those talks that they usually reserved for late at night. It was late, getting close to the evening, when Jack suggested they head back. The walk back had been easier, and they both enjoyed walking in the peaceful serenity of the forest.

It wasn't until they were about twenty feet from the house that Rapunzel got a bad feeling in the back of her head. Her gut twisted, and the hair in the back of her neck stood up.

Something was wrong.

Jack seemed to sense it too, and they both stopped. It was quiet. There was nothing but dead silence, and not even the sound of birds could be heard. It was like the woods themselves could sense the danger.

The door to Jack's cabin opened, and Rapunzel's stomach dropped. She'd hoped she'd see Mia walk out, scolding them both for being out so late. Instead, yellow eyes greeted them. It was a man, wearing the customary black uniform that Pitch's men usually wore.

Rapunzel subconsciously found herself looking for traces of black veins, but their uniform did a good job of concealing them.

"Well, well, at last she returns. You know I was beginning to think you two had run off together" the man joked. He had dirty blond hair, and a nasty scar that ran from the middle of his forehead to the side of his face, stopping just bellow the apples of his cheeks.

Jack's hands balled into fists and he made a small step to stand in front of Rapunzel. "Where's my sister?" he asked, his voice low and dark.

The man with the scar laughed, and the sound sent shivers down Rapunzel's spine. "Don't worry about her, she's in good hands, I'm sure none of the guys would dare hurt such a pretty young face".

Jack growled and began to advance forward. Rapunzel ran in front of him, placing a hand on his chest to stop him. He did, but didn't look at her. She glanced up at his face and almost gasped. His eyes, they were flickering, an icy shade of blue appearing and then disappearing as he stared daggers at the man.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We want the girl" he stated it as if it that obvious, which it kind of was.

"Not going to happen" Jack said, and the temperature suddenly dropped. The man's bemused look fell. It was cold enough to where Rapunzel could see her own breath.

A branch snapped to Rapunzel's right, and she looked to see two more men appear, both wearing black. Soon, they were surrounded by guards on every side.

"Just give us the girl, and we'll give you your sister back" the man said, and the temperature seemed to drop even lower as the last words left his lips. He frowned, "If you won't give her up willingly, we will take her by force. Don't be foolish, boy".

"Why do you want her?" Jack demanded.

"Why do you think?"

Jack didn't say anything, and he also didn't move, his gaze never tearing away from the man. It seemed clear that Jack wasn't going to give Rapunzel up willingly, and she was torn between giving herself to them, or trying to find a way to escape with Jack. She heard a sigh, and then, "Take her".

The men began to close in around them. Jack and her suddenly stood back to back, both facing incoming enemies with indecision as to what to do. The closest guard to Rapunzel reached out his hand to grab her, but before Rapunzel could swat it away, and arrow struck it. The guard let out a scream and then fell to his knees, clutching his hands. A sea of arrows followed, piercing men on their arms, face, abdomen, and legs.

Panic ensued as the confused guards all stumbled to hide from the arrows. Screams were heard and abandoned orders shouted. The injured ones tried to run away while some of the ones who hadn't been hit yet tried to grab at Rapunzel. She fought them off, which was king of difficult at first, but she soon was taking down anyone who got too near. She was in the middle of flipping a man on his back while Jack punched another guard in the face when she almost let out a cry of disbelief. She heard a familiar war cry and turned to see the source of flying arrows.

There, looking the same as ever with flowing red hair and sparkling blue eyes, was Merida, running forward with Hiccup at her side. In that moment Rapunzel could've sworn she'd never seen a more beautiful sight.

...

They were able to seriously harm about half of the guards. Some ran away. Rapunzel didn't see the man with the scar, so she assumed he must have been one of the few who got away.

They were running now. She knew the runaway guards would come back with reinforcements, and she doubted they would be able handle that situation as well as this one. Getting Jack to run with them had been hard. He'd insisted on going after them to get Mia back, but after a loud slap from Rapunzel he stopped struggling and listened to her.

So now they made their way towards the to the other side of the forest. There was a beach on the to other side and Rapunzel knew some ships would sometimes dock there. It was usually curious folk passing by who were curious about what life was like under the rule of the infamous Pitch Black, but were too scared to actually stop at the real port.

"Punz. We have to stop" Merida said. Rapunzel looked at her and Merida cocked her head in the direction behind them. Rapunzel looked back and saw Hiccup staggering behind, next to Jack. Hiccup looked like he was in pain, and sweat trickled down the side of his face. Jack still looked dazed, and she knew it was because he had to leave Mia in the hands of Pitch.

Rapunzel nodded at Merida, and they both slowed down and then stopped next to an old tree that had fallen long ago. Hiccup, wheezing, sat down on the old trunk and began to roll up his pant leg. He had been cut on his leg. It was pretty bad. Merida gasped when she saw it and crouched in front of him to inspect it.

"Hic, why didn't ye tell me ye'd been hurt?" she asked, looking both mad and concerned. Hiccup shrugged. "It wasn't like we would've had time to bandage it. It's just a cut, and besides we had to-"

"Just a cut? Hic ye were bloody limping behind us ye could barely keep up. This looks bad, and if we don't treat it properly it could get infected".

"I know, but it's not like we have the materials to do so at the moment, Mer. Out priority should be to get Rapunzel out of this damn kingdom and get her back to the Benbow, not my leg."

Merida opened her mouth to argue, but Rapunzel spoke first. "Hiccup is right, none of us are safe here anymore. We have to leave, now, and get to Montressor. I told Jim to go back and that I would eventually meet up with him there."

Merida looked back and forth at both of them. "Fine" she sighed, her shoulders dropping, and she stood. Hiccup rolled his pant leg back down and stood up as well. "We should keep going."

No one argued.


	12. Chapter 12

Luckily for them, there was a ship passing by as they broke through the tree line and onto the beach. They all screamed and jumped, waving frantically. The ship made its way towards them, and Rapunzel couldn't help smiling. Her smile vanished though as she saw the ship get closer.

"Mer...is that...?"

Merida nodded.

Rapunzel cursed, and Hiccup just stood speechless. "Who's that?" Jack asked.

"Eret" Hiccup finally said after a few moments of silence. "And who is that exactly?"

"Just an old enemy who I haven't seen in a while" Rapunzel answered. Jack raised an eyebrow. "Don't ask" Rapunzel said before Jack could even open his mouth.

A small life boat was lowered into the sea, and two men got on, and then proceeded to row towards them. The closer they got, the more Rapunzel wanted to run back into the forest, but then thought of Pitch capturing them made Eret and his crew of idiots seem like angels.

"Well well, what do we got here?" one man asked. He wore a worn out eye patch and was missing two of his bottom teeth. The other silently waited for them to get on. They did, and were silent the entire row back to the ship.

Rapunzel and Merida exchanged looks, but didn't dare say anything. As they climbed on the ship, Rapunzel had to clench her fists to keep herself from making a face. The ship reeked of rum and vomit, as well as other things Rapunzel wold rather not think of.

Eret stood there in the middle of the deck, his crew standing behind. He smirked, and Rapunzel wanted nothing more than to mop the floor with his face to wipe off his smug look.

"Why, this is truly a pleasant surprise" Eret drawled. He strolled forward, circling Rapunzel and her friends who stood behind her.

"Eret" Rapunzel said as nonchalantly as she could. "Why, my dear Rapunzel, who would've thought that this of all places would be where we would meet again". Eret caressed her cheek. Merida growled, but Rapunzel raised a hand, stopping Merida from advancing. She removed Eret's hand from her cheek.

"Eret, this surprise is as unpleasant for me as it is for you. But, as much as I hate to ask, I need your help."

Eret raised both eyebrows,clearly stunned. He broke into a smile that only made Rapunzel want to throttle him even more.

"Hmm, this is quite interesting" Eret unsheathed a bejeweled dagger, inspecting it and cleaning nonexistent smudges. "Now, why does the so called 'Queen of pirates' need _my_ help? If I'm not mistaken, last time we met you called me a-what was it? Oh, a no good, scum bag pirate, and an even worse captain". A few snickers escaped from the crew behind Eret, and he threw them a venomous glare, shutting them all up.

Rapunzel took a deep breath. "Pitch Black is after me and if you don't want him to take you too, then I suggest we get out of here."

The silence stretched on for a few long seconds. Eret laughed. "You really are funny. You expect me to believe that the infamous Pitch Black, would waste his time chasing a decieving whore lik-" Eret stumbled back as Rapunzel's fist connected with his jaw. She snatched the dagger from his hand, kicked his leg out so he was on one knee, and held the blade against his neck. He looked up at her in shock, his hair tightly clenched in her hand.

Merida had nocked an arrow and aimed it at the crew. Her murderous glare was enough for them to know that if they so much as moved an inch towards Rapunzel, they'd end up with an arrow in their throat.

"Listen to me you worthless bastard. Pitch Black is coming, and if he catches us you will all die. You, your crew, and that rude parrot that always steals crackers from your boatswain. Now, I am not in any mood to be captured and killed by that monster, so you either help me, or I will not hesitate to throw you overboard and take off with your own ship and crew."

Eret was speechless. "Y-you wouldn't dare. You're too righteous" he said. Rapunzel arched an eyebrow, but true to her word, she dragged him towards the ship's railing and pushed him overboard. She turned back to see the stunned faces of the crew.

"If anyone wishes to join your captain, please be my guest. But, if you want to live, then you will do as I say."

No one objected. "Alright then. Everyone to your positions. Now!"

The men scurried around to their positions. She turned to face her friends. Merida had lowered her bow, a small smile on her face. Hiccup was leaning against the railing, and Jack...Jack looked like he'd been slapped with a fish.

"You're...a pirate?" he asked.

Rapunzel fidgeted with her hands and nodded. She opened her mouth to say something, but someone else spoke behind her.

"Excuse me, milady."

She turned to see a young boy, most likely not even her age, standing there holding a raggedy hat in his hands. "Yes?"

"Where should we set course to, milady?" he asked, his voice shaky.

"Who are you?"

"The ship's helmsman" the boy answered. Rapunzel looked back at Hiccup, he was still leaning against the railing, except now his face looked somewhat pale.

"What's your name?" Rapunzel asked, turning back to face the boy. He looked like he must've been about nineteen. He had big brown eyes and hair that looked both red and brown at the same time.

"Peter, Peter Pan."

"Well, Peter, please do set course for Montressor" Rapunzel said, smiling softly at the boy. He nodded, smiling back and then scurrying towards the wheel.

She heard Merida exclaim, and then a loud thud. She turned to see Merida shaking and shouting Hiccup's name. Hiccup lay sprawled on the floor, unconscious. She rushed to kneel beside him.

"What happened?"

Merida shook her head. "Ah don't know, he looked really pale, and when Ah asked him what was wrong, he just collapsed" Merida was close to tears.

Jack pulled up Hiccup's pant leg. Rapunzel covered her mouth with her hand. His cut, although only having received it half an hour ago, had now stopped bleeding and looked red. There was pus in the middle. Rapunzel exchanged looks with both Merida and Jack.

"How is this possible?" Jack asked. Rapunzel shook her head. "I don't know."

She looked at Merida again. "Mer, it looks like it's been badly infected..."

Merida shook her head, knowing what Rapunzel was trying to say. "We can't, he'll die from blood loss."

"I know it's a big risk, but he'll die anyways of we don't. Montressor is still weeks away. If we want him to make it we're going to have to amputate his leg."


	13. Chapter 13

Merida shook her head. "We can't. He could die from blood loss, or the shock itself could kill him. My dad almost didn't make it when his leg was amputated, and he was given the treatment of a king; we do this now, on Eret's filthy ship, we might as well be dooming him."

Rapunzel stood up, running a hand through her hair. She was exasperated, but nodded. "Fine, you and Jack carry him on to Eret's cabin. We should try to at least make him as comfortable as pos-" Rapunzel froze.

She stared towards the island they'd just left. Merida and Jack rose at her side. They both cursed. A sleek black ship, with a black horse on it's sail, was rounding the corner. It was making its way towards them.

"I think we should go" Jack said.

Rapunzel nodded. She spun around to face the crew, who had stopped what they were doing to gawk at the flawless ship that was quickly sailing closer and closer to them.

"Well don't just stand there!" Merida yelled. "If that ship catches us we're as good as dead so Ah suggest we all keep moving". The men jolted out of their trance and began moving again.

"Peter! Hard to starboard" Rapunzel shouted as she climbed the stairs to stand next to him. He nodded and jerked the wheel. The ship groaned as it began turning.

Merida and Jack grabbed Hiccup and dragged him towards Eret's cabin. They lay him down on a cot and then rushed outside. The men were scurrying around, some rushing below decks while others were coming up. The sails were tugged by the strong winds and the ship soon began speeding away from the island.

Merida ran and leaned over the railing to peer at the pursuing black ship. "It's fast. Really fast" she muttered.

"What do we do?" Jack asked, standing behind her, his hands clenching into fists. He was nervous, and scared, but to be fair, so was she.

"Whatever our captain tells us" she said. "Captain, orders?" she shouted up at Rapunzel.

The blonde woman opened her mouth to speak, but a deafening boom silenced her, the sudden jerking of the ship being hit by a cannon ball making her stumble forward.

"We need to get out of shooting range..." Rapunzel ran a hand through her golden hair, thinking.

Merida charged up the stairs to join her. "We can't, we're not fast enough."

Rapunzel moved and gripped the railing as she peered back at the black ship. It was gaining. Their ship groaned, most likely form strain of being pushed to move faster than it could. Merida was right. But they couldn't just let themselves be caught.

An idea struck her, a crazy idea, but an idea nonetheless.

"Get the cannons ready!" she yelled, and several men nodded. She climbed down to the main deck, grabbing a rowdy looking man with two missing front teeth. "Get the right anchor ready, on my mark, drop it."

"What?" he asked, an incredulous look on his face.

"Just do it" Rapunzel warned, and he nodded quickly when she glared at him. He scurried off, and Rapunzel moved to rejoin Merida.

"Punz!" Jack yelled, walking towards her.

"Jack, look I need you to go inside with Hiccup" Rapunzel said as she climbed up the stairs.

"What? No, I want to help."

More cannon noises sounded, and the ship shook again. Rapunzel tripped, and then righted herself, turning back to face Jack. "You can't. You don't know anything about being a pirate nor how to manage a ship. Please go and hide with Hiccup" and with that she rejoined Merida.

Any arguments Jack had were drowned out by the noises of cannon fire and shouting men. The wind was whipping Rapunzel's hair around, but she didn't have time to do anything about it.

"The cannons are ready, Captain!" someone yelled.

Rapunzel nodded and searched for the man she'd spoken to, locked eyes with him, and then screamed, "Drop the anchor!"

The ship jerked to the right as the anchor hit the bottom and snagged on a rock, turning abruptly and sending various men sprawling. Rapunzel and Merida clutched on to the railing, while Peter grabbed the wheel. The ship's side now faced the close and fast approaching enemy.

Rapunzel stood up straight, and then gave the order.

"FIRE!"

The air was filled with explosion, and then a black mass of nightmares erupted from the sea.

...

Everything was quiet as everyone stared at the giant wall of darkness. Rapunzel's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. The cannon fire had ripped through the nightmares, but if it had struck it's target, she did not know.

"Captain?"

But Rapunzel didn't answer, instead, she watched as fire trailed along the nightmares from the cannon fire that had passed through, little bits of...sand?...was falling as the spots disintegrated.

"Fire...it's...Prepare more cannons!" She faced Merida, "I need you to go grab as much rum as possible from below, get Jack to help you by tearing up any pieces of clothing and stuff them on the bottles-"

"What are yeh on about?"

"Just trust me!"

Merida looked skeptical, but she nodded and ran off to find Jack.

Rapunzel ran to the main mast, grabbing a lantern hanging there from a nail. She watched the men hurry to load the cannons again.

"Captain! I've got them!" Merida yelled, returning with an arm full of rum bottles, followed by Jack who was ripping strips of fabric from an old shirt. Rapunzel grabbed a bottle, throwing away the cork and stuffing the strip inside, only leaving a little bit hanging out.

"What are you-"

Rapunzel put the end of fabric hanging from the bottle into the lantern, lighting it on fire and then thrusting it at the curling black tentacles that slithered towards the ship from the black wall. They caught on fire, disintegrated.

" _That_ is what I'm doing."

"Cannons ready!"

"Fire!" Rapunzel yelled, and the cannon fire went off, while her, Merida, and Jack thrust bottles of flaming rum at the black nightmares. It seemed to be working, as the wall disintegrated slowly, until the foundation was too weak to hold, and it tumbled down in a wave of black sand.

As the Rapunzel wiped the dust from her eyes, she came face to face with none other than Pitch Black's general, Mother Gothel, standing smugly on the black ship that now too stood on its side, its cannons ready.

No words were spoken at first, only glares were given. "Punz, we need to get out of here" Merida whispered next to her. She was right, the ship couldn't handle any more destruction.

"No, Deary, I don't think you'll be going anywhere" Gothel called out. She was leaning on her sword, her black leather uniform gleaming in the sun.

"And who are you to tell me what I am to do or not do?" Rapunzel retorted.

Gothel sent her a cold smile that made the hairs on the back of Rapunzel neck stand up. She could feel Jack and Merida step closer to her, their protectie nature taking over.

"Why, Deary, I'm your worst nightmare" she said in a silky voice.

"Oh, Lady, trust me when I tell you, you aren't anywhere close to being even considered a nightmare" Rapunzel shot back, and she could see Gothel turn rigid, her smug smirk vanished, and she now stood straight.

"Oh, I'll show you just how nightmarish I can be" Gothel muttered. She back away, her smug smile returning, and she simply raised her hand.

Their cannons fired, and Rapunzel was sure she was done for. That is, until she felt Jack push her behind him. She looked up to see a clouded look on his face, his eyes switching to blue, the roots of his rich brown hair turning white. He held Rapunzel back with one hand, while sweeping his other arm across and forming an entire wall of ice, freezing the cannon balls in mid-air.

Rapunzel would've gasped, stepped back and stared at Jack as if he were some freak, but she'd seen powers like these before, and she knew just how scary finding out about them could be. Besides, if she had indeed gone into shock, she wouldn't have been able to catch Jack when he fainted, nor yell at Peter to turn around and take them away, ordering for the anchor to be cut loose since there was no time to retrieve it.

They sped away, Rapunzel watching the enemy ship try to round the already melting wall of ice. She fell to her knees, still holding Jack in her hands, not surprised to find him cold. The whiteness in his roots spread further, now covering almost all of his hair.

"Punz?" Merida asked, kneeling in front of Rapunzel.

"I'm okay" she whispered, her voice hoarse. She held Jack tighter, before looking at Merida. She didn't need to ask. Merida grasped his feet while Rapunzel hooked her arms under his. The carried him off towards Eret's cabin, setting him on a small bed in the corner.

And that's how they set off to Montressor. With a damaged ship and two unconscious men.

* * *

 **Sorry I took forever.**

 **I'm the lonely life: I hope that answered your question, and also I'm glad you like the story.**

 **Until next time :)**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The stars shone brightly in the dark night sky. Rapunzel sat on the stairs leading to the ship's wheel, admiring their twinkle and thinking of how much she'd missed watching them from her ship. Of course though, this wasn't her ship, but she didn't complain. She'd rather be on a crappy old ship than be stuck in land.

A creak on the wooden floor boards made her lower her gaze towards the sound. Merida walked up to her and took a seat next to her. "Ye okay?"

Rapunzel sighed, shaking her head. "What's wrong?"

She shrugged, leaning back against the steps and looking up at the stars again. "I don't know, honestly. I feel...relieved...but also...We were almost caught by Pitch's men today. Mer...we could've died, whether in the fight against his guards, or because of his royal navy that was chasing us."

"We've had lots of moments where we almost died, Punz."

"Well yeah, I know, but..."

"This is Pitch though, the murderer of yer parents and the reason a lot of yer people are starving and poor and ye're on the run" Merida finished for her. Rapunzel turned to look at her friend, nodding.

Merida leaned back next to her, sighing. "What are we gonna do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Pitch now surely knows ye're alive Punz. We could keep running, but we won't evade him forever, ye know that."

Rapunzel groaned. It had been hours since they'd left Corona's ports, hours since Amelia had been kidnapped, since Hiccup had been injured, and Jack...Jack had shown his true powers. Rapunzel shuddered at the memory of his icy cold eyes, the way he'd turned frigid cold when he'd moved in front of her to protect her.

She wasn't freaked out because of his powers, being the ice queen's cousin had desensitized her from that. She was freaked out because of how much danger Jack was now on, and how easily he could lose control when it came to protecting those he seemed to care for. When he'd built that huge wall of ice, he undoubtedly caught Gothel's attention. Now, he'd gone from a simple commoner who'd been hiding her, to a potential weapon for Pitch, and Amelia was now in even more danger as well.

"How's Hiccup?" Rapunzel asked instead.

Merida tensed up at the mention of him. "He has a fever now, and the infection is spreading, slowly, but still."

Rapunzel grabbed Merida's hand, squeezing it. Merida squeezed back, blinking away tears. She was terrified of losing Hiccup, and Rapunzel above anyone else knew what losing your lover felt like. She pushed back any resurfacing memories of him, instead changing the subject.

"Has Jack woken up?"

Merida shook her head, letting go of Rapunzel's hand to run it through her hair. Rapunzel chuckled, and Merida turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised. "What's so funny?"

Rapunzel shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "It's just, usually the guy is the one who catches the fainting girl, but today it was the opposite."

Merida laughed, "Did ye get that idea from the many stolen books you read?"

Rapunzel shrugged, "Maybe."

Merida chuckled.

"Should we wake him up?"

"Hmmm... Ah don't know, we could try."

Rapunzel nodded, standing up and walking towards Eret's cabin. She opened the door slowly at first, but then just swung it open, deciding that if she was going to wake up Jack there was no point in trying to be quiet. Three candles were lit and made the furniture cast ghostly shadows.

She walked over to where Jack was laying down. His hair was still a mix of brown and white, but his body wasn't radiating coldness now. She poked his shoulder several times at first, but that only made his swat at the air around him. She tried shaking him awake, but he only groaned and accidentally smacked her on the side of the head. Finally Merida grabbed a canteen of water and poured it over his head.

Jack jumped awake, falling from the bed in the process. He let out a string of curses before Rapunzel clamped a hand over his mouth. He stared at her in disbelief, and the put her finger over her mouth, signaling that he needed to be quiet.

He nodded, and Rapunzel removed her hand.

"What the hell was that for?" he whisper yelled.

"You've been sleeping all day, I figured you might as well keep Peter company outside. Mer and I are exhausted and need rest."

Jack looked up at Merida. She did look exhausted.

"But you said so yourself, I don't know anything about being a pirate or managing a ship..."

Rapunzel sighed, "I'm sure Peter can teach you a thing or two on steering. He's tired too you know, you should join him and make some small talk, get to know him."

"But-"

"No buts. Jack in this voyage you can't just get away with doing nothing. If the ship's helmsman is a teenage boy, then I'm sure that means that they're short-staffed. Unfortunately for us, our own helmsman is currently unable to help, so you're going to have to step up to the role."

Jack stared at her for a long moment, and she stared right back, not backing down. Finally, he sighed, nodding and standing up. Rapunzel walked him out towards Peter, who was currently whistling a tune Rapunzel didn't know.

"Peter," she said as she approached him. He smiled, his eyes droopy from how sleepy he was. She introduced both boys, briefly explaining to Peter what Jack was there for before finally leaving both of them.

When she walked into Eret's cabin, Merida was laying down on the small bed, already sound asleep. She didn't know why Eret had both a cot and a bed in his cabin, but she didn't feel like questioning why Eret ever did anything at this hour.

She pushed Merida against the wall, laying down next to her. She sighed in content, happy to be away from Corona and Pitch.

She didn't even realize she'd fallen asleep until her dreams began to take over.

...

 _It was the same thing as last time. The same darkness surrounded her, the same dark tentacles of nightmares reached out to her, and just like before, the ground split, spilling bright golden light through the gap._

 _The nightmares retreated as the light shone through. Rapunzel knelt down, trying to peer into the chasm below, but it was no use, the light was too bright. The harsh whispers of the dark intensified, panic coating their voices._

 _Rapunzel now knew. The light, it hurt them. She reached to her side for her sword on instinct, relieved when she felt her fingers wrap around the handle. She unsheathed it, stood up, and gripped it with both hands._

 _The voices were now screaming, telling her not to do it. She could feel a cold wind begin to blow, and felt dark stings on her skin, but she didn't care. She raised her sword, and with a loud yell brought it down._

 _The ground began to shake, the screams grew hysterical, and a dark gust of strong wind shoved Rapunzel off her feet. She landed on her back with a grunt, her head smacking the dark marble floor, but her sword stayed embedded on the ground._

 _The gap began to grow, and more light poured into the room. In the midst of all the screaming and shaking, Rapunzel heard it. She sat up, her head pounding, her hair being blown wildly. She crawled slowly towards the light, and the voice now sounded clearly. It was a woman, she was singing._

 _"Flower gleam and glow..._

 _Let your power shine..._

 _Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..."_

 _Recognition gnawed at the back of Rapunzel's mind. She knew that voice...that song...but how?_

 _"Heal what has been hurt..._

 _Change the Fates' design..._

 _Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine..."_

 _"_ What once was mine..." _Rapunzel finished. The shaking stopped, the wind stilled, and the voices grew silent. Something was rising from the ground, something big and bright. The light was blinding, and Rapunzel covered her eyes as the light poured out and enveloped the whole room in its golden brightness._


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 _-Weeks later-_

Rapunzel had never felt more relieved to see Montressor's ship port come into view. The past few weeks at sea had been tough. They'd dealt with not only horrid weather, but meltdowns and breakdowns, fights, and Hiccup's condition that seemed worse. It was a miracle he was still alive.

Once they docked, Rapunzel could see her crew anxiously waiting to greet them. She felt tears spring to her eyes, and once she set foot on the dock, she ran forward, hugging Jim fiercely as he was the first one to run towards them. She could feel Merida next to her hug them both, and then the biggest group hug ever ensued as the rest of the crew reached them.

"You guys actually made it, I can't believe it..." Jim said as they all seperated.

"Did ye doubt we would?" Merida asked, narrowing her eyes although there was a smile plastered on her face and tears in her eyes. Jim shook his head. "At first, no, but then when you guys failed to show up on the day we'd all assumed you would, we grew worried. What took you so long?"

Merida and Rapunzel exchanged looks. Too many people were crowding around, trying to see what all the excitement was about. "I think we'd better talk inside."

Jim nodded, and then stopped mid-turn. "Wait? Where's Hiccup?"

...

They put Hiccup in one of the rooms upstairs, leaving him with Merida and the local doctor for inspection. Rapunzel was downstairs, sitting on one of the chairs, her entire crew surrounding her as they listened to her story.

Sarah set down a mug in front of Rapunzel. "Oh my god..." She whispered as she listened to Rapunzel's version of the story on what had happened after she'd been separated from Merida and Hiccup. Sarah had cleared out the entire Benbow, shooing everyone out as soon as she saw Jim burst through the door followed by Hookman who carried an unconscious Hiccup.

"How did you manage to get away?" Hiro asked.

Rapunzel sighed, "Well, that's actually where Jack comes in. Jack?"

She rose and made eye contact him, motioning with her hand for him to join her. The entire crew turned to face him, all looking at him up and down, each one trying to see whether this guy was someone they wanted their captain to associate with.

He scratched the back of his neck and then moved from his spot in the corner of the room. "Guys, this is Jack" Rapunzel said as he came and stood next to her, "He saved me from Pitch's guards."

It was quiet. Awkwardly quiet. No one really knowing what to do or say in front of the strange boy with brown and white hair. "Thank you for saving our captain" Russel finally spoke up, and the rest of the crew nodded their heads.

"Um, it was no problem" Jack mumbled.

"What happened to your hair?" Russel asked next, and Jack and Rapunzel both tensed up.

"Well..." Rapunzel began.

"Genetic mutation. It runs in the family" Jack finished for her. He looked over at Rapunzel, his eyebrow arching, and Rapunzel nodded.

"Yeah, genetic mutation."

After that things grew quiet again as the local doctor descended down the stairs, Merida following close behind. Everyone's attention now turned to them.

"How is he?" Rapunzel asked.

The doctor sighed, and Rapunzel felt her heart sink. "His leg will definitely need to be amputated, it is too far gone to be saved. As for the rest of him, the infection caused quite a serious fever, but I think after a week or two of rest and taking medication he should be fine."

"When?" asked Merida, and the doctor turned to look at her.

"When will you do it?"

He seemed to think for a moment, before answering. "Tomorrow morning, when I have the right equipment with me."

Merida nodded, and the doctor left.

...

Jack couldn't sleep that night, naturally. He lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling and subconsciously comparing it to his bed back home.

Home. That cabin in the woods wasn't his home. No, he was thinking about his room back when he lived with his parents, when Corona was still peaceful and they were still alive. It felt like ages ago, but he still remembered the softness of his bed, his mom tucking him in and kissing his forehead while his dad watched from the door. They'd tell him goodnight and then close the door, moving on to do the same with Amelia.

Thinking of Mia made tears spring into Jack's eyes. Leaving Corona had been hard, even with the near-death experiences. The thought of her being trapped inside Pitch's castle, completely defenseless and at his mercy made him physically sick.

Jack rose from his bed. He needed fresh air, or he was going to throw up. He carefully opened the door to his room. He closed it behind him and began tip-toeing down the hall, cringing when the floor would creak.

He managed to make it to the first floor of the Benbow, the restaurant, before being caught.

"Sneaking off somewhere?" Someone asked, and Jack whirled around to face a somber looking Rapunzel. She sat in a table by the corner, a window next to her streaming moonlight in and brightening her face.

"I was just going to get some fresh air."

She nodded, and then turned to look out the window. She drank from a mug and then ran a hand through her hair. She looked tired, but not sleep-deprived tired, more like the-weight-of-the-world-rests-on-my-shoulders tired.

"You alright?" Jack asked as he walked towards her.

She didn't say anything as Jack pulled back a chair and sat down on it. She still wouldn't look at him, and not for the first time he wondered what the story behind those huge green eyes was.

"Punz?" He asked again, tentatively reaching out to place his hand over hers, before thinking better of it and setting it back down.

She watched him with wairy eyes, and for a moment Jack thought he saw disappointment before she masked the look with a blank one.

"I just...I'm worried" she finally admitted.

"About?"

"Everything. Hiccup, who knows if he'll survive the surgery tomorrow, he's already very weak. Merida, she's barely gotten any sleep the whole trip because she was too busy tending to Hiccup. The crew, I'm afraid that I'm putting them in danger just by coming back to them-"

"Why would they be in danger?" Jack interrupted.

"Well, because...because Pitch-"

"Pitch...Punz why...why is he after you? What does Pitch want with a simple pirate?"

Rapunzel was quiet, which only made Jack more frustrated.

"What's your full name Punz?" he asked, suspicious of the fact that in all this time he still didn't even know that about her. The only way he'd learned she was a pirate was because of that other captain she'd thrown overboard.

Rapunzel didn't say anything, and she could see Jack getting frustrated. She stayed quiet for a few moments as she chose her words carfully.

"Pitch...he thinks that if I'm alive I am threat to the throne..."

"Why?"

"Well, that I can't tell you, it's um, personal business-"

Jack slammed his hand on the table, startling Rapunzel. "Enough with the bullshit Punz! I deserve to know what the hell is going on between you and that monster, especially since he has my little sister trapped in his castle."

Rapunzel was clearly surprised at his outburst, Jack was too, before he saw her eyes narrow and her shoulders tense up.

"You don't think I know that? You don't think that the weight of what could happen to your sister because of me is on my shoulders? I know how much danger she's in Jack, I don't need a reminder" her voice rose higher and higher with each words, but yet she never quite reached a level where she was full-out screaming.

"Do you know what having your only family left taken from you feels like? Do you Punz?" Jack demanded, his voice rising as well.

"YES!" she shouted, her body trembling and her voice breaking as she said it. There was anger in her eyes along with tears.

She rose from her seat hastily, almost knocking the chair backwards. "Listen, I am sorry your sister was taken, I wish this had never even happened in the first place. But you are not the only one to have had people you care about taken by him so don't go about yelling at me like you're the only one who's experienced loss and pain. I have lost a lot because of that bastard, we all have, don't think you're the only one."

And with that Rapunzel stormed away, heading towards the stairs. When she reached them, she looked back to see him looking out of the window, his whole body was tense.

"And since you're so insistent on knowing, my name full name is Rapunzel. Goodnight Jack."

* * *

 **A much better written Chapter 15. I was feeling kind of salty today so I made them fight. Whoops. UNtil next time :) hope you enjoyed.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The Benbow remained closed the next day. Both Eret's and Rapunzel's own crew were already sitting down in the restaurant area. Everything was quiet, somber looks rested on everyone's faces as they waited for the doctor to get here.

When he arrived, his equipment in hand, he greeted Sarah good morning, smiling kindly at her before moving on to Merida. He gave her a sympathetic look, muttered some words of reassurance to her, and then proceeded to move on towards Hiccup's room, Merida following close behind.

Rapunzel watched them go from where she sat. Her hair was a mess and she had dark circles under her eyes. Sarah set down a steaming mug in front of her, giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"How are you feelin?" she asked, and Rapunzel shrugged, her disgruntled look saying it all.

Sarah nodded, understanding. "Well, if you need anything, feel free to tell Jim, or get it yourself. This is your home after all."

Rapunzel managed the smallest of smiles before Sarah left, going upstairs to join the doctor and Merida. The restaurant room then filled with quiet whispers and soft voices. Rapunzel stared at her drink for a long time, her tired eyes watching her reflection stare back at her. Jim sat down in front of her, placing a hand over hers, smiling gently when she looked up.

She would've smiled back, but then the screaming began.

...

The shrill shrieks of pain jolted Jack awake. He sat up quickly, grabbing the closest thing to him, a small mirror on the bedside table, and holding it as a weapon. He walked slowly towards the door of his room, cracking it open and peering out into the hall. It was empty, before Merida barreled out of one of the doors, her hands bloody and shaking as she struggled to breathe.

"Are you alright?" asked Jack, stepping out of his room. Merida jumped at his voice, hesitating before shaking her head.

"Its Hiccup" she mumbled, and Jack could see tears in her eyes beginning to form. He looked towards the door from where she'd come from, strangled cries of pain escaping through the crack under the door.

"Is he...?"

Merida nodded. "The, um, anesthesia isn't working on him, and we don't know why. We've already applied a tourniquet on his leg to control the bleeding. But, um, w-we don't know if he's strong enough to survive through the surgery with all the pain he's in."

Jack stared dumbfounded at her, not knowing what to say. "Did the doctor knock him out before the surgery started?"

Merida nodded. "Yes, but he woke up soon after the doctor began cutting. That's how we knew the anesthesia wasn't working."

Jack ran a hand through his hair, noticing the way Merida's hands trembled and how her glazed eyes kept roaming from place to place. He was never one to be comfortable with moments like this. The only people he'd ever hugged was Mia and his parents, with the exception of Rapunzel.

But now he was surprised to find himself taking Merida into his arms and hugging her tightly.

"It'll be okay, Merida. Hiccup's a strong man, he'll be fine."

She tensed up at first, freezing as he wrapped his arms around her, but soon enough she relaxed into the hug. He didn't know how long he held her like that, but he could feel every time her fists balled up his shirt when she clenched them each time Hiccup's screams got worse.

She was shaking terribly, and Jack could see just how much the surgery unnerved her. He couldn't help the big brother protective feeling that came over him. He might be younger than her, but she was definitely shorter than him, and as he held her, he couldn't help but feel like he was hugging his sister.

Eventually the screams got quieter, until there was nothing but silence in the room. Jack let Merida go, just as Rapunzel rounded the corner, followed by Jim and Hookman.

"Is it over?" she asked, breathless, and Jack could tell she'd ran up the stairs. Merida shrugged, before turning to face the door, gripping the doorknob tightly. Jack watched her take a deep breath, and then she opened the door and went inside.

...

Hiccup could feel a hand tightly gripping his when he woke up. He felt disoriented as he looked up at the familiar ceiling, and when he tried to get up his head became to dizzy and he fell back down with a groan. "Hiccup!" a voice cried out, a voice he knew, and then suddenly there were arms around him and a sea of red curls invaded his vision. Merida.

"Mer..." Hiccup spoke weakly. He tried to hug her back, but his body felt like nothing but mush.

"Don't try to move, or get up, you're still weak from the operation" a new voice spoke up.

"Punz" Hiccup laughed, or at least he attempted to. Merida detached herself from him, looking at him with tears in her eyes, which shocked Hiccup. "Mer, why are you cryi-"

Merida interrupted Hiccup as she placed a bruising kiss on his lips. His eyes widened at first, and gasps could be heard from the room, but Hiccup ignored it all and closed his eyes. He tried to lean into the kiss, but Merida broke it off too son.

"Ye idiot, ye scared me to death, we thought ye might die" she sobbed, and Hiccup was speechless at the sight of her crying. Merida almost never cried, the thought that him dying was enough to make her sob like this more than surprised him.

"I-I'm sorry, I won't do it again" Hiccup stuttered out, making Merida laugh even though tears were still falling from her eyes.

Jack and Merida then proceeded to help him sit up, while Rapunzel placed two pillows behind his back. He sat with them as they filled him in on anything and everything; from how sailing to Montressor with Eret's ship had been, to their reunion with the crew and what had happened during the surgery and after.

"So I've been asleep for almost two days?" Hiccup asked, and they all nodded.

"Wow..."

He stared at his now bandaged leg that was covered by a simple beige sheet. He didn't say anything else for a long time, and Merida, Rapunzel, and Jack all watched him with worried eyes. Then he suddenly gripped the covers, ready to rip them off. Merida quickly grabbed his wrist. He looked up at her, unwillingly letting her see just how much this hurt. She shook her head slowly. He wasn't ready, and they both knew it.

"Later, Hiccup. For now, ye should eat. Are ye hungry?" she asked in a gentle voice. Hiccup nodded, and Merida grinned. "JIM!" she then yelled, startling Hiccup.

Jim burst through the door, followed by his mother. "What is it? What's wrong?"

His eyes fell on Hiccup. "Hiccup!" and then he was hugging him. "I'm so glad you're alive, man, you had us worried for a moment."

Hiccup smiled, but it was Merida who spoke up. "Jim, Hiccup's glad he's alive too, but right now, he's hungry. Is there anything to eat?"

"I just made some soup and stew" Sarah piped up.

"Perfect" Merida smiled, and then turned to Hiccup, who was staring at her with a fond look in his eyes.

"What?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Nothing, just happy be here with you all."

* * *

 **Please tell me you like it. I hope you enjoyed, until next time :)**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The smell of breakfast is what made Jack finally emerge from his room. With Merida constantly taking care of Hiccup and the crew mostly hanging out either at the bar down the street or the local brothel, he didn't really have anyone else to talk to. Well, except for Sarah or Jim, but they was mostly always accompanied by Rapunzel.

He hadn't had a decent conversation with her since that night a few weeks ago, and as much as he hated to admit it, not talking to her was torture.

That all changed that day though. As he made his slow descent downstairs, a loud, gruff voice could be heard.

"I said where are my damn eggs?"

As Jack rounded the corner, he could see Sarah trying to calm down a man who was clearly drunk. She slowly and calmly spoke to the fuming man who was clutching a knife in one hand and a fork in the other.

"As I said, Sir, we are currently out of eggs, but if you'd like to wait a few more minutes my son should be back with fresh eggs from the market."

The man glared at Sarah and scoffed. "What kind of Inn are you running then? Did you really become so unhinged after your husband left, that you can't even make sure your damn restaurant doesn't run out of eggs?" the man's slurred voice loudly questioned.

Jack watched as one of the men from Rapunzel's crew got up from a table, ready to come to Sarah's rescue, but another guy stopped him. Sarah's eyes began to water, but whether from anger or embarrassment, Jack didn't know.

Then Rapunzel was there, next to Sarah. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was full of tangles, but she still looked like a beautiful mess to Jack. She gently pushed Sarah behind her, smiling comfortingly and then looking back at the guy.

"Sir, I am afraid that you're going to have to leave this restaurant" she said in a steely yet calm voice. The man slammed the fork and knife down on the table, making Sarah jump, but Rapunzel didn't flinch. She never broke eye contact with the man, even as he got up from the chair and looked down at her.

" _What_?"

"You heard me. You've not only been disrespectful to the owner of this place, but you've also disturbed the rest of the customers around you. Also, since you are clearly drunk you cannot be here, so I'm going to ask you again to please leave and do not come back."

The man grinned, meanwhile Rapunzel's glare intensified. He ran a hand through his messy hair, and then before anyone could even process what was happening he quickly clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down to Rapunzel's face. There were screams heard and Rapunzel staggered back, grunting in pain and spitting blood out.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sarah shouted, "Get out of my restaurant. NOW!"

The guy looked like he was going to say something, but before he could the man from Rapunzel's crew had seized him and was hauling him out of the place. Jack, snapping out of the weird trance he'd been in for the past minute or so, rushed to Rapunzel's side.

"I've got her Sarah, you go tend to your customers, they look pretty upset" Jack whispered to her before wrapping an arm around Rapunzel's shoulders and dragging her away towards the kitchen. Inside he sat her on a stool, quickly rushing to get a cloth and dipping it in water. The blood was trailing down Rapunzel's chin, and Jack hesitated before beginning to dab it away.

Rapunzel wouldn't look at him, and he couldn't seem to stop looking at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

Rapunzel spared him a glance before quickly looking away. She cleared her throat before speaking, "Yeah, I've dealt with hits way worse than that."

"I know" Jack folded the cloth onto a cleaner side. "But I wasn't talking about the punch back there, I meant if you're okay in general."

Rapunzel caught his wrist as his hand neared her face again. She gently pried the cloth away, giving him a small, defeated smile before cleaning the blood away herself. Jack leaned against the counter, not breaking eye contact with her.

"I'm fine, Jack" she said after a few moments of awkward silence. Jack scoffed, "Yeah, cause the heavy bags under your eyes and messy hair are totally signs of how fine a person is."

Rapunzel looked down at the floor, sighing and laughing a humorless laugh. "Well, what can I say? These past few weeks haven't exactly been the best."

"How come? Hiccup is fine, and Merida is much better than she used to be. So what's wrong?"

She looked up at him through his lashes, red tinting her cheeks. "Well...you and I-"

At that moment Jim burst through the door, a box of eggs in his hand. "Hey guys, what'd I- What happened to your lip?" he asked as he set the box down.

Rapunzel shrugged, "Oh, nothing, Jack just wasn't paying attention and elbowed me in the face."

Jack gasped, turning to look at Rapunzel who in turn gave him a look that clearly said 'play along'. Jim arched an eyebrow, looking back and forth at both of them before shrugging and leaving the kitchen.

When the door finally stopped swinging Jack spoke up. "Why'd you lie about-"

"Jack, it wasn't a big deal. So a guy decided to hit me, so what? It will only lead to unnecessary drama. I think it would be better if we all just let it go."

"Let it go? Punz you can't be seri-"

"I am serious. Please Jack just...let it go," she stood up from the stool, dropping the bloody cloth on the trash before walking out of the kitchen, not sparing Jack another glance as she walked past him.

...

"So ye finally talked to him, eh?" Merida asked as she watched Rapunzel pace back and forth from the bed. "Well...if by talking you mean I said more than two words, then yes, I talked to him."

"So...how do ye feel?"

Rapunzel stopped pacing, opened her mouth, and then closed it and kept pacing. She wasn't sure how she felt. She had promised herself she wouldn't ever feel like this again, but now here she was.

"I...I don't know Mer...I mean I haven't known him long but...I just feel..."

Merida straightened up, a knowing smile on her face. "I knew ye had a crush on him but...Ah don't think this is a crush anymore..."

Rapunzel shook her head, "Don't say it."

"Punz-"

"No!" Rapunzel curled into a ball, then just slumped on the floor. She was acting like a child, she knew it, but she didn't care. This was Merida, who was the only person besides Hiccup who knew this side of her. Sure, her crew knew her pretty well and they were all like a big family, but there were sides you just sometimes didn't want your family to see.

She heard a thump next to her, and she knew Merida had slumped down next to her. "Ye know...Ah know we might have a lot on our shoulders but...that doesn't mean ye have to shut yerself away from other-"

"Other what? Other men? I know that, Mer, but-"

"You're afraid you'll lose them like you lost Eugene" she said it as a statement, not a question, because she knew well enough that that was exactly what Rapunzel was afraid of. It wasn't exactly a huge fear she had, but she'd been so emotionally hurt that she'd subconsciously pushed away any romantic advances any other men tried on her. Now, without her knowing it, she'd let herself fall for the guy she'd least expected.

"Yes, I'm afraid to lose them...him...but that's not just it. Mer, what if he doesn't want me after he finds out the entire truth?" Rapunzel uncurled herself from the ball she'd been in, looking at Merida who was laying next to her, looking at her with those big and familiar blue eyes.

"Punz...if ye think he'd really leave ye just because of yer past, then ye are really not as smart as I've come to believe in these past years of knowing ye."

Rapunzel grinned, shaking her head. "Oh Mer, you know I really am an idiot when it comes to these things."

Merida laughed, nodding and looking at the ceiling before grabbing Rapunzel's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Yeah well, Ah'm not much better either." Rapunzel turned to look at her, "So, what should I do?"

Merida met her gaze, smiling before speaking, "Ah think...ye should talk to him, tell him how ye feel, and then tell him everything."

"Everything, everything?"

"Everything, everything."

* * *

 **What? I updated? HOly crap its a miracle. Sorry I took so long, I really am, school was just kicking my ass the last couple of weeks. BUT, summer just started so you can bet I will have a lot more time to write so you should be getting a new chapter before the end of the month. Until next time :) Hope you enjoyed it, even if it wasn't that exciting of a chapter.**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Jack?" came a soft voice from the other side of the door, followed by a barely audible knock. He got up and walked over, ignoring the strange feelings going on in his stomach at the sound of the voice.

"Who is it?" he dumbly asked. He knew perfectly well who it was.

"I-it's me, Rapunzel, can I come in?"

Jack swung the door open startling Rapunzel, who gave him a weak smile. Jack stepped back and motioned with his head for her to come in. She did, giving the surprisingly not messy room a quick scan before turning back to him, watching as he shut the door then leaned against it.

"So...?"

"I want to talk to you."

"About?"

"Everything...I uh, I think it's time you learned the truth about everything that's going on."

Jack raised an eyebrow, not sure where this was heading, but curious enough to let her keep going. He watched her pace around the room, running a hand through her hair. She looked back a him, opened her mouth, and then closed it again.

She looked from him, to the bed, and then back a him. "Sit down, please?"

Jack gave her another skeptical look but walked over and then dropped on the bed, leaning against the headboard. He crossed his arms while he watched her sit at the foot of the bed, fiddling with her hands.

"So...what's this truth that you want to spill?"

She seemed to think for a moment before speaking, "You said you lived in Corona all your life, right?"

"Yeah."

She takes another deep breath and then keeps going. "In all that time...did you ever hear people talk?"

"Talk? Yeah, I heard people talk, they talked about a lot of stuff."

"Yes, but, did you ever hear them talk about the royal family, you know, after the invasion?"

He stays quiet, his eyebrows narrowing as he tries to think. His eyes roam the length of the mattress and his shoulders haunch together. After a few seconds he meets her eyes again, his shoulders relax and he nods.

"People used to say that- they thought the princess had survived."

"And why would they think that?"

He rubs the back of his neck, sighing. "Well, this old man, apparently he had helped bury the king and queen but, not the princess. He used to say there was no corpse to be buried, but of course not many people believed him, they all thought he was finally going crazy or that the princess had burned in the castle fire."

Rapunzel bit her lip and sighed before speaking, "He wasn't going crazy, Jack. He was... he was telling the truth, and...she also didn't burn in the fire."

"What? And how would you know?"

"Because _I_ am the lost princess of Corona, Jack."

...

Merida was helping Hiccup walk on his new prosthetic leg around in the closed restaurant when a door somewhere upstairs slammed shut. They both stopped and looked at each other, a puzzled look on Hiccup's face and a worried look on Merida's.

Two sets of footsteps could be heard as well as a faint voice. The footsteps got closer to the stairs, started descending, and soon enough Jack emerged out of the hall, Rapunzel following close behind.

"Jack, please say something!" she cried, grabbing a hold of his arm and tugging him back. Jack whirled around to face her, " _What_? What do you _want_ me to say? I just found out that the girl I've fallen so deeply for...that the girl me and my sister both got involved with, both nursed back to health... is not only a dirty pirate, but she also happens to be the _lost princess_ of the kingdom I used to live in, a kingdom in which the entire family was _killed_ by a cold-blooded monster."

Rapunzel stepped back, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. She was a strong woman who was used to being yelled at by older and tougher men, that had never really bothered her, but then again, those men hadn't been Jack. And those men had also not confessed to having feelings for her while insulting her in the same sentence.

"What could I _possibly_ say, huh, Punz? You're being hunted by a man so evil that not even hell wanted him, and what's worse, is that that evil son of a bitch has my sister, the only family I've got left. So please forgive me if I'm a little speechless at the moment."

And with that Jack stormed out of the Benbow, leaving behind a broken Rapunzel and a speechless Merida and Hiccup. Rapunzel turned around slowly, and that's when she finally saw them standing there. Her eyes were wide, tears building up and threatening to spill. She looked like she wanted to say something, but words failed her. She looked like a child who had just found out their parents had abandoned them.

"Well, that's one way to react to the truth," Hiccup said, earning a glare from Merida. She smacked his head, and then turned back to face her friend.

"Oh lass..." she opened her arms, and despite being an adult, Rapunzel ran into them and let the tears fall. Merida wrapped her arms around her protectively, while Hiccup wrapped his arms around both of them. They stood there, hugging each other tightly like they always did when someone in their close trio was hurt.

Rapunzel let out heart-broken sobs, because as strong as she was, she could only hold so much in before she broke.

Eventually they all headed upstairs, both girls helping Hiccup up and to his room, where they would all be spending the night. They talked for hours, until Rapunzel grew too tired from all the crying and fell asleep on the floor, the small pillow supporting her head damp from the tears. Merida ran a hand through her golden hair, looking at her like she wanted to protect her from all the harm in the world, because that's what she was used to doing.

"What do you think will happen now?" Hiccup asked from his spot on the bed. Merida looked up at him, shaking her head slightly, "Ah wish Ah knew."

She got up, covered Rapunzel with a blanket, and then lay down next to Hiccup. They were nose to nose, speaking softly. "Do ye think Jack will come back?" she asked quietly. Hiccup shrugged, "I don't know, I mean do we really want him to?"

"What do ye mean?"

"Well, you saw how he yelled at Punz, you saw how heart-broken she was, do we really want him coming back into her life?"

Merida seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding, which made Hiccup arch an eyebrow. She spoke up before he could. "Hic, as much as he hurt her, and believe meh Ah was upset over it, he also makes her happy. We couldn't have expected him to accept her identity so easily."

Hiccup sighed, "I guess, if you say so."

Merida rolled her eyes, "Yes, Ah say so. Now go to sleep, we're the ones who are going to have to deal with a grumpy and sad Punz in the morning."

"Alright, woman, goodnight," Hiccup rolled his eyes in return before closing his eyes. Merida's eyes roamed over his face as he relaxed and slowly drifted off to sleep. "Goodnight," she murmured back, and then closed her eyes.

* * *

 **Hey! told ya I'd update a lot more now. Anyways I know I could've written a longer chapter and taken you guys through the whole ordeal of Punz revealing who she is to Jack but to be honest I didn't want to dwell on that too much (I mean I know it was important but it's still not _that_ important) since there is still a lot left to cover before this story is finished and I want to go ahead and move on to that stuff (which I will do probably in the next chapter). I hope you guys liked it, I know ya'll probably won't like that the main couple is fighting again but let's face it guys, their relationship isn't gonna be all that easy, they're gonna have to fight for it if they want to make it work. I'd say I'm sorry I made them fight but lol no I'm not. Until next time :)**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Many worried looks were sent Rapunzel's way as she marched towards Merida and Hiccup's table, her eyes looked puffy and there were dark circles around them. She was quiet, not smiling, and her hair was a mess. As Sarah was setting down a plate of food in front of her, the door to the restaurant was thrown open. Everyone's eyes turned to the man standing at the door, a big grin on his face.

"Dr. Doppler!" Jim shouted and ran towards the man, followed close behind by Sarah. Jim barreled into the man with a crushing hug. "Jim!Sarah! It's good to see you," cried Delbert as he hugged both of them back. After that Delbert greeted more people, including Rapunzel whom he cast a worried look to, before going up and getting himself a room.

"Wasn't Dr. Doppler supposed to be back by the end of the month?" Jim asked his mother as he helped her carry dirty plates into the kitchen, being careful to avoid Ben who was busy making breakfast for the new and incoming guests.

Sarah nodded, "Yes, I thought he'd be back by then too but, I guess he decided to come back early."

Jim leaned against the counter, "Do you think it was because of what happened in Corona?"

Sarah set down the tray of plates and looked to see if Ben was paying attention, but he was too busy making sure he didn't burn his hand off. She shook her head, "I don't know, I mean if word traveled fast enough then I'm sure he might have heard something."

"If he heard something then so did the Queen of the Avian Kingdom. Mom, already people are talking about a girl with golden hair being chased around in Corona who then disappeared into the woods , it won't take long for people to notice the similarities between her and Punz."

Sarah sighed, "Jim, anyone who really got a good look at her is in Corona, where they will probably stay the rest of their lives. While it may draw attention to Rapunzel, there are countless of women with blonde hair out there."

"Yes mom, there are, but they didn't say blonde hair they said golden hair, and only Punz has hair like that. Even you said that no one else has hair like hers."

Sarah seemed to take his words into consideration before speaking. "We'll have a word with Delbert tonight, along with Rapunzel, but before that you will not speak about the incident in Corona, got it?"

Jim nodded.

"Alright, now get out there, we've got new customers who need to get their orders taken."

...

 _-Later that night-_

"Rapunzel, dear, won't you join us?" Delbert asked the sulky woman as she made her way upstairs with a mug filled with steaming liquid. She seemed hesitant, but gave in and went and sat across Delbert, Sarah and Jim on either side of her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, eyeing all three of them curiously.

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but Delbert cut her to it. "You know that word travels fast, right, Rapunzel?"

She nodded. "Well, while I was staying at the Avian Kingdom with her majesty, rumors began to circle around the castle that Pitch was taking over small villages and kingdoms using a, what did they call her? A white witch?"

Rapunzel nodded again.

"Well, that was being spread around as well as rumors of a girl with _golden hair_ running around Corona being chased down by Pitch's general and his guards."

Rapunzel tensed up at that, looking down at her hands.

"Was this you?"

She nodded. "Yes...I'd also heard the rumors about Pitch and...I wanted to check it out," she admitted. She glanced up to see the worried and sad look in Delbert's face.

"Rapunzel, you do realize how much danger you put not only yourself in, but also you friends? I get that you and Elsa were really close and you wanted to see if the rumors true, but, it was a lot of risk going there just because of some rumors."

Rapunzel shook her head, "But they weren't just rumors, Delbert."

At the confused look Delbert gave her, she elaborated. "I talked to the locals, not a lot, but few did claim to have seen a woman with white hair exit the castle just as Pitch would leave for another raid and always see her enter whenever he came back. And one woman said she even saw her when they first brought her, she was unconscious and being carried in by some sailors. "

Delbert looked from Sarah to Rapunzel and then Jim. "And no one thought to tell me about this? I mean you've been back for like a month, Rapunzel, you could have written to me."

"We were going to tell you when you got back," Sarah said.

"Well, that's just-"

"Delbert, you said rumors spread all the way to Avian, and not only about Elsa, but about me too. Do you know if people are suspecting anything?" Rapunzel interrupted.

Delbert nodded, " The Queen began to question who you were when she heard people talking about you. You're actions are quite famous, you know, not many people are able to face Pitch's general and get out alive."

Rapunzel smiled, before her eyes were clouded over with sadness. "Well, it was mostly thanks to Jack that we got away."

"Jack?"

"This guy she met at Corona, he helped her when she got hurt and Punz brought him with her when she escaped," Jim chimed in.

Delbert raised an understanding eyebrow, eyeing Rapunzel and the blush that crept into her cheeks. "Ahh...I see...And this boy is from Corona?". Rapunzel nodded, looking back down at her hands.

"Yes, he says he lived there his whole life, along with his parents and sister. Although when I met him it was only him and his sister."

"And where is his sister now?" Delbert asked.

"She was taken."

"Oh dear."

"Anyways, Delbert, you said that the Queen of Avian was asking questions about Rapunzel?" Sarah asked.

Delbert nodded, pushing his glasses up his nose. "She thought that it was amusing that some girl had managed to escape from the merciless Gothel at first. Then she heard about Pitch's various raids and how they seemed to be heading towards her way. She began to worry, especially since she'd heard about the supposed white witch, and that's when someone brought up the rumors about the princess of Corona not being dead."

Rapunzel, in the midst of taking a swig from her hot drink, paled, coughing as the drink went down the wrong tube in her throat. Jim patted her back while Sarah took her drink away.

"T-they know?"

Delbert shook his head, "No dear, they only suspect."

Rapunzel sighed and hid her face in her hands. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"I think it's time you came clean to the rest of the world about who you are," Delbert said, earning shocked looks from everyone. Rapunzel was shaking her head furiously when someone else spoke up.

"He's right, Punz."

It was Hiccup. He had Merida by his side. They made their way over to them, Merida pulling up two chairs for both her and Hiccup.

"What do you mean 'He's right'?"

"I mean, Pitch is out there ruining people's lives, taking lands and places that don't belong to him. If he isn't stopped then pretty soon he's going to take over everything. The thing is Rapunzel, people are too afraid to stand up to him. They wan't to fight, believe me they want to, but they're too scared. They need someone brave to take the first stand."

"And that someone is me?"

Hiccup nodded, "You above anyone have a right to stand up to him, to put a claim on the throne of Corona that is rightfully yours. Pitch knows that, and that's why he was so insistent on taking you. He knows you can change the tides and bring him down."

"But, I'm just a pesky pirate, I can't just march up there and claim the throne, Pitch would slaughter me."

"Yes, you alone wouldn't stand a chance against his army," Delbert chimed in, earning a glare from Rapunzel. "But, with an army of your own, maybe you could."

"And where would I get an army of my own?"

Delbert grinned, "Well, I told you the Avian queen was worried, but she isn't the only one, the entire Big Four is. They want to put a stop to Pitch too, they just aren't sure they want to get involved in a war."

Rapunzel's eyes widened. "The Big Four? you mean to tell me the four biggest kingdoms apart from Corona are worried? But aren't they in an alliance with eachother?"

Delbert nodded.

"And if you go to them for help, confess your heritage and right to the throne, they might change their minds. They want to stop that monster, but they don't have any right to take Corona away from him. You do."

"That could work. Punz, we would not only be putting and end to the guy who's a threat to every kingdom surrounding him, but Corona would also get back their rightful queen, someone who could restore the balance and bring back the good," Hiccup said.

Rapunzel closed her eyes and sighed. It all felt like too much to think about in that moment. To finally reveal who she was to the world felt like something she wasn't sure she wanted to do, but she knew that they were right. Pitch needed to be stopped. She opened her eyes and made eye contact with Merida. The red-head gave her a reassuring smile and a nod, and that was enough to tell her that this was the right thing to do.

"Alright, looks like our next trip will be taking us to the Avian Kingdom. Delbert, please write to the Queen and alert her of us coming."

Delbert nodded and stood, "Of course, I'm sure Queen Toothiana would love to meet you."

Rapunzel smiled, standing up along with everyone else. "Well guys, tomorrow we'll start packing. Jim, make sure that the ship is stocked and loaded by the end of the week, I want to leave as soon as possible."

Jim grinned, "Aye aye Captain."

* * *

 **What? Two chapters in the same week? What a miracle. Lol but seriously I spent all day writing this. I hope you guys liked it, please leave a review telling me what you think and if you're excited about Punz finally doing something to stop Pitch. Also hope you guys are excited about meeting Queen Toothiana of the Avian Kingdom.**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Jack gave the room he'd become so familiar with over the last month one last glance before closing the door. He looked down at himself, feeling slightly ridiculous. He was only wearing a simple white shirt, some brown pants and simple boots Hiccup had let him borrow, but it felt so different from his usual attire of bare feet and ripped shirt and pants.

He heard a door behind him open and he turned around to see Hiccup exiting from his room. He too was casting his room forlorn looks before reluctantly closing the door. He looked up to see Jack staring and gave him a smile. Jack smiled back, hiding the hint of jealousy he felt. Hiccup looked badass in his green shirt, pants that were ripped halfway down his calf to show his prosthetic leg, a dagger sheathed on his hip, and black bandages around his hands. Meanwhile Jack felt like an idiot.

"Hey, you ready to go?" Hiccup asked as he joined Jack in walking down the hall towards the stairs. Jack nodded half-heartedly, something Hiccup noticed.

"You okay?"

Jack shrugged, no intention of answering on his mind until Hiccup placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him midway down the stairs. He turned to look at the green-eyed man and any thought of lying and pretending he was fine went away. Something about the way Hiccup looked at him, with a look that said that he was someone Jack could trust, someone he could lean on, made him want to open up. It didn't hurt that his green eyes somewhat reminded him of Rapunzel.

"No...I'm not," he admitted.

"Well, what's wrong?"

"I just...I feel so...out of place," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and looking down at the floor.

"Out of place? Why?"

"Well, I'm no pirate, I'm just a simple boy from a broken kingdom."

Hiccup laughed, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. "Look man, I've only known you for a few months but even I can tell you that you are not some simple boy from a broken kingdom. Merida and Rapunzel both told me about that cold touch of yours, and I saw you fighting back there outside of your cabin when you were protecting Rapunzel from Pitch's men. You can fight, and not only that, but you've got that special trick up your sleeve."

"That still doesn't mean I belong with a band of badass pirates like you guys."

"Jack, stop being stubborn and believe me when I tell you that you belong, and besides, I'm pretty sure Rapunzel would throw a fit if you suddenly decided not to join us."

Jack gave him a sad smile, shaking his head and continuing to walk. "If you say so," he said over his shoulder. He heard Hiccup scoff, and then he felt a whack on his head as Hiccup walked past him.

"You know, you really are one oblivious son of a bitch."

...

"How are we looking?" Rapunzel asked Jim as he came to stand next to her. Jim gave her once over before grinning.

"Sexy, but not like we're trying too hard". Rapunzel smacked his arm, laughing. "Like, sure we're trying, but it's almost effortless," he finished.

"I meant on crew and equipment, Mr. Hawkins."

"Oh, yeah we're good there too."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and then patted his shoulder, walking away to join Merida who was talking with Hookman. As she walked she had to admit that it felt good to be sailing again, especially since she was sailing with a purpose. She looked down at her simple white shirt with short sleeves, fuchsia scarf that was tied around her waist, and brown pants and boots, a leather band around her head that was only visible on her forehead while the rest was hid under her hair and braids. It was her usual attire for sailing, but she felt strange wearing it again. A good strange though.

"We ready?" she asked Merida as she joined them.

The red-head nodded, a smile lighting up her face. Rapunzel knew that the thought of sailing again was what put that smile on her face.

"Aye, we're just waiting on Hic and Jack."

At the mention of Jack, Rapunzel's smile wavered, but she just nodded and stood next to the boarding ramp while watching Merida and the rest of the remaining crew board the ship. After a few minutes she could see Hiccup and Jack exit the Benbow from down the street. She made eye-contact with Jack for a few seconds while he talked to Hiccup, before she looked down at the ground. Hiccup patted her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze as he walked past.

She walked behind them, giving Jim the signal to untie the rigging that was holding her ship as soon as she set foot on board. He nodded, giving her a thumbs up. As she boarded, she watched as Sarah walked towards the pier, waving and sending them all kisses. They'd already said their farewells to her that morning, but she would still walk out and wave as they departed, because it was just like her to do so.

Everybody waved back before going to their places, listening as their Captain and Quartermaster gave them orders. After that Rapunzel leaned against the side railing, watching Montressor grow smaller and smaller as they sailed away. She turned towards the wheel to see Hiccup watching Peter sail the ship, occasionally giving him a few tips on how to make sailing easier and smoother.

After arriving in Montressor, Eret's crew had stayed for a few days, then they all slowly left as each one found a new crew to join. Everyone except Peter. His young age wasn't the only thing that had kept him from finding a new crew though, over the time they spent at Montressor Peter had bonded with both Rapunzel and the entire crew of The Golden Dagger, it only felt right to bring him along.

"Eager to arrive at the Avian Kingdom?" someone asked, and Rapunzel turned to see Jack standing next to her. He was looking at the ground and rubbing the back of his neck, pink tinting his cheeks. He was nervous.

"Uh, yes, I am. You?"

Jack shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, I guess so."

Rapunzel leaned her back against the railing, looking up at him. He was now looking up at the sky, leaning back against the railing too.

"How are you doing?" Rapunzel asked. Jack turned to look at her, he looked just as bad as she felt.

"Tired, I haven't been sleeping well lately."

"Me either," she admitted.

They were silent for a few moments, listening to the sound of the sea. Then Rapunzel spoke up again, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Jack...I'm so sorry I didn't tell you the truth sooner, I was just...scared of how you would react."

Jack was quiet, then he placed a pale hand over hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry for the way I reacted...I was just surprised. With a secret that big though I understand why you were reluctant to tell me."

"So...you forgive me for not telling you the truth?"

Jack nodded, "I mean it took me a while to come to terms with who you were but...after thinking it over...and after Hiccup gave me a little speech on our way to the ship I realized that you are who you are, that just because you are a princess doesn't change you and that you're still the same girl that I-" he stopped for a moment and cleared his throat, "Yes, Rapunzel I forgive you."

Rapunzel was unresponsive for a few seconds and then smiled, a big toothy smile that made her look like a kid. Jack smiled back, ruffling her hair and pushing her away.

"Jack! my hair!" she exclaimed, laughing.

"Oh please, since when do you worry about styling your hair" he joked, watching as she tried to smooth her hair down. She looked radiant under the sun, her golden hair seemed to glow, her big smile lighting up her whole face. She had a certain look in her face, the look of someone who was looking at one of the most wondrous things in the world, and it made Jack's heart skip a beat to know that the thing she was looking at that way was him.

"Since right now," she retorted, rolling her eyes even though she was grinning as she walked away to join Hiccup and Peter by the wheel.

...

"So you talked to her," Hiccup said to an approaching Jack later on that day. Jack nodded, crossing his arms and throwing his head back, looking up at the now pink sky.

"And I'm guessing it went well, seeing how Punz was actually smiling a real genuine smile this time."

Jack looked at him and gave him a smile. "Yeah, I wanted to thank you for encouraging me to. After I left her that night when she told me the truth I...I looked in through one of the windows at the Benbow and saw her crying, that was when I instantly regretted everything that had come out of my mouth. I would've talked to her sooner but, I didn't think she'd want to talk to me."

Hiccup shook his head, "While I will you say that you were quite harsh with her, you were being honest about how you were feeling, and no one can get mad at you for being honest."

"But Punz was being honest and I got mad."

Hiccup shook his head again. "You weren't mad, you were in shock, surprised."

Jack thought about it for a while before shrugging. He turned his attention back to Hiccup and grinned when he noticed a purpleish mark on his neck, barely hidden by the collar of his shirt. Jack cleared his throat, wiggling his eyebrows when Hiccup looked at him.

"So, you and Merida are...?"

"What?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

Jack smiled and pointed at his own neck, casting his glance at the spot marking Hiccup's skin. Hiccup's eyes widened in recognition of what Jack was trying to say and a deep blush appeared on his face.

"Oh, um, it's not what you thi- we didn't do anything," Hiccup stammered.

Jack laughed, clapping Hiccup on the shoulder, "Look man, it's cool, don't worry about it, I won't tell anyone you guys are...sharing the same hammock."

Hiccup's blush deepened and Jack's laughing increased to the point where he was grasping the railing in front of the wheel for support.

"Hey! It's not funny!" Hiccup exclaimed, but Jack only nodded.

"Yes it is!," he wheezed out, "Oh man you should see your face."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Jack took a deep breath and after a few more snorts finally stopped laughing. He wiped tears away from his eyes and then looked back at Hiccup.

"Look, in all seriousness, if you guys are having sex I'm not going to judge you, its your relationship and I have no say in it. Just be careful on hiding those marks, the rest of the crew might not be as merciful as me and will probably give you more shit for it."

Hiccup sighed, but then smiled, "Thanks."

Jack shrugged and grinned back, "No problem."

* * *

 **Yes I had to include that line. ANOTHER CHAPTER? WHAAAAAAAATTTTT? I didn't spend all day writing this one though, I spent almost all night monday and most of Tuesday afternoon and night finishing it. It is 12:30 a.m. Which means it is Wednesday and I might not be tired but I will got to bed after posting this cause writing has fucked up my sleeping schedule.**

 **Charmfeather: Thank you so much for your reviews I honestly enjoy reading them. And also thank you for noticing how much time and thought I've put into this story, sometimes I do wonder if anyone even cares about that.**

 **Wolfgirl619: Dear friend thank you for all of your reviews, they mean so much :) Btw update your story soon, I'm eager to find out what happens with Nyota.**

 **Hope you guys all enjoyed the chapter, please review and tell me what you think. Until next time :)**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Please, stop!" the woman screamed, holding her hands out wildly, trying to protect the last child standing from the cruel ice. The child stood alone, surrounded by three other bodies, all frozen from the inside out. The woman sobbed, shaking her head. "Please...s-stop."

The man in front of her looked down with an uninterested look on his face. She was nothing to him. Just a mere bug in his eyes. He watched her begging for her and her son's life at his feet. It was quite pathetic, the way humans would turn into a slobbering mess when begging for mercy.

Deciding he'd had enough he turned back to his pet, his gold eyes meeting her icy cold ones. He nodded once, and then walked away. From behind he could hear the woman scream, he could feel the temperature drop, and then silence. He turned to see her body slumped on the floor, the young boy she had died to protect standing unharmed, tears in his eyes.

Another orphan amongst the hundred in this town. A town now full of widowers and orphans and homeless people. The place was a frozen mess with who people littered the streets, some dead, some dying, and others screaming and crying.

He built up a mountain of black sand with him standing on top. He stared at the people below him, watching as each one slowly gave him their attention.

"Hear me!" he bellowed. "I will not waste time with introductions since by now you all know who I am. But, I will tell you this. From this moment on _I_ am your king. This town, is now mine, and you all, are now my people. Do you understand?"

There was shocked silence, before a woman screamed out from the crowd.

"You're no king. You're a _monster_! Our only ruler is Queen Anna, not you...never you."

Then there was more silence as he stared at her with one of the coldest glares ever seen. His eyebrows narrowed, and although no one else could see, his fists clenched in anger. The shrill screech of a nightmare was heard, and then the woman was enveloped in their darkness. She let out horrified and painful screams, the townspeople who were still left alive watching in horror.

When the nightmares cleared away, all there was left was a grey, skeletal, lifeless corpse. Any trace of the woman she used to be now gone.

"Like I said. I am your new king, and anyone who so much as thinks about disobeying me, well..." He gestured towards the corpse, "You will end up like your friend over there. Understood?"

Everybody nodded.

With his statement clearly made, the mountain of black sand slowly sank to the ground. The townspeople were scared, and he knew it, just like he knew that fear could make people do things they never thought they would be capable of.

With a satisfied smile he watched as those who were still alive slowly kneel before him.

"That's more like it. Now let's go!" he demanded to his nightmares and they all fled into the shadows, while the small group of soldiers he had brought with him began walking forward. Some ushered people inside while others grabbed the corpses and began dragging them off somewhere into the woods. This town was now his town, and his men would stay behind to make sure it stayed that way.

Pitch turned and began walking, glancing back to see his slave following him close behind, looking down at the ground. He quickly formed the black chains around her wrists, making sure to keep her restrained.

"Oh, cheer up Elsa. I mean you've done this hundreds of times" he mocked, grinning when he saw her tense up. He turned back to face the road he was walking down when he heard a crackling sound, and looked to see the black chains around her wrists being covered with ice.

"I wouldn't do that, deary," he said in a low voice. The ice stopped, and her shoulders slumped.

"That's a good girl. Keep up the good work and maybe I'll make your little nightmares stop," he said with a nasty smirk.

They marched up the road towards the one lone nightmare standing in the middle of the road. It was bigger than the others, and when it stood near them, the other nightmares would step away. It made it's chilling whining noise and when Pitch got on, it rose on it's hind legs.

"Take us home, Gothel," he commanded. He swooped up Elsa and sat her in front of him, smiling as the nightmare galloped into the shadows.

...

Jack stumbled back with a grunt and fell to one knee. He massaged his jaw and looked up to see Merida grinning. The rest of the crew surrounding them looked like they were trying really hard to not laugh.

Jack stood up and charged at her with his sword in his right hand pointed at her. She easily stepped aside, bringing up her blade and blocking his hit.

From the wheel Rapunzel and Hiccup watched. It had been a slow, calm day, so Rapunzel wasn't too strict about everyone getting back to their posts. Both her and Hiccup laughed at Jack's feeble attempts to beat Merida. He was skilled with a sword, everyone could see that, but it was one thing to be good at it and another to be good enough to beat the ship's quartermaster.

"Ye're gonna have to do better than that beat me, Jackie boy" she taunted.

Jack grunted and charged again, but this time he faked going to the right, and then stepped left just as Merida moved forwards to block his sword. He swept his blade low, catching her ankle and bringing the blade up. Merida's feet were swept out from under her, and she fell with a yelp. Jack stood over her, the point of his blade gently pressed on her chest.

"Did I do better this time?" he asked with a smirk.

Both Rapunzel and Hiccup cracked up at that, while the crew stood speechless. Merida knocked the blade aside with her own and stood up, a scowl on her face. Jack's grin fell and he somewhat paled. He began backing up, holding up his hands and apologizing. Merida came towards him, stood quiet for a moment, and then grinned.

"Aye, ye are getting better," she said and then walked off to the main cabin.

Jack watched her walk away before muttering a quiet "Thanks."

He looked up at the wheel of the ship to see Rapunzel still giggling while Hiccup wiped away tears in his eyes. Hiccup said something to Rapunzel, called Peter over to take the wheel, and then followed Merida into the main cabin.

Jack walked over and sat on the stairs leading up to where Rapunzel was, leaning against the rail. Soon after Rapunzel joined him.

"Well that was interesting. It's rare to see someone get the best of Merida."

Jack chuckled, "Thanks."

Rapunzel shrugged, "You're welcome. She was right though, you are getting better."

"Really? I thought I just got lucky."

"Yeah, that's most likely what Merida herself will be saying nex time you guys duel."

Jack looked over at her, "How come you never let me go against you? I've dueled against Merida, once against Hiccup, and almost against Jim. Both Merida and Hiccup kicked my ass, of course, but not once have you let me go against you. Why?"

Rapunzel shrugged, turning to look out at the blue water surrounding them.

"Oh come on, Punz, don't give me that."

He bumped his shoulder with hers, poking at her sides until she looked over at him. "I don't know, I...I guess I just wasn't comfortable with the idea of kicking your butt in sword fighting."

Jack laughed, shaking his head. "You wouldn't. You're too soft of a person to kick my butt."

Rapunzel arched an eyebrow. "Would you like to bet on that?"

"Bet?"

"Yes."

Jack leaned in, clearly interested. "What would you like to bet?"

"Hmmmm...since you've got no money, how about...you win, you can boast to everyone that you beat the great pirate Rapunzel in a duel, if I win...you...mop the deck every morning and night for a week."

Jack scoffed, but nodded. He held out his hand to her. "Deal."

Rapunzel shook it quickly and stood up, unsheathing her sword and walking towards the middle of the deck.

"Wait, you mean we duel right now?" Jack called out, getting the attention of the crew.

"Well when else would we?"

Jack smiled and shrugged, standing up and grabbing his sword. The crew gathered around them, Merida and Hiccup exited the cabin and joined the crowd. Everyone was staring in anticipation. Voices mixed together as people placed bets on who would win.

"Ready to get your butt handed to you, Captain?" Jack mocked.

Rapunzel grinned an almost evil grin, bringing up her sword and pointing it it him. "Are you?"

* * *

 **So I'll explain why Gothel can change from a person into a nightmare later on. Hope you guys liked it, Until next time :)**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

 **Before anything thanks to my friend Wolfgirl619 for helping me with the dream portion of the chapter.**

 **Okay, that's all, you may read on.**

* * *

 _"Tic, toc...tic...toc" the cruel voice chanted. Again, and again...and again. Time was running out, the voice knew it, she knew it, the darkness knew it. She wasn't fast enough, strong enough, nor powerful enough. Her powers were failing her. Already, she could feel the ice towers beginning to crumble, succumbing to the nightmares around._

 _"Elsa!" the voices of her loved ones cried out. They were everywhere. Her parents, her friends, Rapunzel...Anna...They were all there. And they were trapped. Trapped inside the ice castle that was supposed to be their fortress, but was now their cage._

 _"Elsa..." the first one went out, crushed by the ice of a pillar that fell._

 _Another, this one her mother, the nightmares had caught her. They were tearing her apart. Next went her father, trying desperately to save his pained wife. The nightmare infection caught him. In a matter of seconds, black veins appeared all over his thin body. His hands grabbed at his throat as he choked on black ooze that formed in his mouth._

 _And then came Rapunzel and Anna. They were growing pale, their lips were blue, and they were huddled together, trying to desperately keep warm. They called out her name, begging her to help them. This one always hurt the most. It hurts because it wasn't Pitch and his monsters who were killing them, it was her. Her unpredictable powers were making them freeze to death, slowly making them suffer, and there was nothing she could do to save them. If she stopped, the castle would cave, and they would all be taken by the darkness. But, if she kept going... the two people she cared about most in her life would be taken by the coldness of her powers._

 _"Oh what will you do, dear Queen Elsa?" the voice of Pitch chanted out._

 _Tears streamed down her face. Her intense sobs made her body shake uncontrollably. The dream- or more like nightmare- was basically like all the others. Who died when and how always changed, but the outcome was always the same. Rapunzel and Anna died last, always by her powers, and then the ice would cave._

 _It would always cave and then she would stand alone, with her loved ones around her, and the darkness lingering right behind, waiting to get to her. It was always there, taunting her, mocking her failure._

 _With one last scream, she let herself fall to her knees, crying out as the ice crumbled down around her. She slammed her hands on the ground, screaming in frustration._

 _"Guess you're going to have to do better next time, deary," He laughed, the sound echoing everywhere around her. She was alone again. Alone with the terrible creatures of the night. Alone...so alone...always. Then, the darkness took her over._

...

Jack let the mop fall onto the deck with a grunt. This was not how he had pictured his evening going. He mopped and mopped the length of the deck, wiping away the sweat on his face and wincing when he'd touch the cut on his cheek Rapunzel's blade had given him. It had been an accident, mostly his fault, but that didn't mean he couldn't hold a grudge.

"Ye missed a spot!" Merida called out. She was leaning against the railing, eating an apple and watching him, trying not to laugh.

"Thanks a lot, puffy head," Jack responded, dropping the mop in the bucket and smiling when he saw Merida's grin fall and her eyes roll.

He rubbed his shoulder, hoping the soreness would be gone by morning. He looked over at the main cabin door that was closed. Rapunzel had gone inside shortly after their duel and hadn't come out since.

With a sigh Jack turned around and went below deck, walking over to his hammock and falling asleep almost as soon as he laid down. Of course though since he was Jackson Overland and luck was rarely ever on his side, he was woken up from his peaceful sleep later on to someone shaking him gently.

"W-what?" he asked groggily, looking around. His eyes landed on Rapunzel's face, illuminated by the light of a lantern.

"First you kick my ass in front of everyone and then you wake me up from a very good dream?" he groaned.

Rapunzel rolled her eyes, "Oh please, you knew very well there was no way you could've won that. And, also, I woke you up for a reason."

"What?"

She motioned for him to come with her and he groaned again, but got up anyways.

"Are you always like this when you wake up?" she asked as they climbed the stairs onto the deck.

"Always like what?"

Rapunzel turned back and gave him a look.

"Yes. When woken up in the middle of the night in the middle of a good dream, yes."

Rapunzel arched an eyebrow as she went and leaned against the railing on the ship, facing the dark sea. She extinguished the lantern and set it down. Jack didn't mind though. He looked up at the sky and was awestruck to see the vast amount of stars and a beautiful half-moon that provided enough light that the lantern wasn't necessary.

"Good dream?" she asked, grinning. "What were you dreaming about?"

Jack hesitated, "Uh, I think you're better off no knowing" he said and turned to try and hide the blush on his face.

Rapunzel laughed and shook her head, looking up at the sky. She was quiet for a few moments, and then turned to look a him.

"Sorry about your cheek, I didn't mean to-"

Jack shook his head, "Hey, it was my fault, I'm the one who was too clumsy and fell."

Rapunzel nodded, and then asked, "How are you? Are you alright?"

The question took him by surprise and he was silent for a few moments, thinking about whether he should lie or tell the truth. He leaned into the railing next to her and looked up at the countless stars.

"I'm...okay," he admitted. "I mean, the thought of Pitch having my sister still bothers me day and night, but...knowing that we're doing something to not only help her, but help all of Corona and all of the people who've been hurt by Pitch...it helps me sleep at night."

Rapunzel placed her hand on his forearm, "We'll find her Jack, and we're going to rescue her. I promise."

Jack looked over at her, giving her a smile and laughing before looking down at his hands. His laugh sounded different though, and when he looked up at her again she was surprised to see tears welling up in his eyes.

"Jack..."

"What if...what if we don't get there in time? What if he...what if he-"

"Stop it! Mia is going to be fine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because if she weren't you'd know it. You'd feel it," she placed her hand over his heart. "You'd feel it in here."

"You sound like you're talking from experience."

"I am. I've been there. "

Jack was quiet, waiting for her to keep going. Rapunzel sighed and looked away, her eyes seemed far away, lost in memory. She hand't planned on telling Jack about him, but given the circumstances it only felt right to do so.

"His name was Eugene, although he liked to go by Flynn since he thought it sounded cooler. Um...we...he and I were together for quite a while. We met Montressor, actually."

She stopped talking for a second, clearing her throat. "He used to work in one of the fruit stands by the plaza, selling apples. Even though Eugene made decent money, he always had this habit of, uh, borrowing things from people without letting them know."

"He was a thief?" Jack asked bluntly, making Rapunzel laugh. She nodded, "Well, yes."

"It always got him into trouble, but it was never anything he couldn't handle... He would always ask to come with me on my voyages...I of course always said no, thinking he'd be safer here in Montressor than with me out in the open sea."

Her eyes started to water, and Jack inched closer to her.

"He got into trouble with these guys, the Stabbington brothers...um, from what I was told Eugene owed them money, and he couldn't pay them back when they came asking for it."

Her voice wavered, but she took a deep breath and kept talking. "I was on my way back when it happened. We would be arriving in Montressor the very next day after..."

Her voice trailed off and her hands were shaking. Jack didn't need her to finish her sentence though, guessing what had happened when he saw a tear slid down her cheek. "I felt his death...It was t-this horrible sinking feeling, and as soon as I got it...I...I knew..."

Jack wrapped his arm around her and brought her to him. She didn't cry in his arms, but she did lean into the hug. She stepped back after a few moments, wiping tears away from her face. It pained Jack to see her like this, so hurt and vulnerable.

"The Stabbington brothers stabbed Eugene as he was walking home the night before I arrived. He died from blood loss, or at least that's what the doctor told me," she said, taking a shaky breath. She wouldn't look at Jack, her mind far away stuck inside the memory of what had happened.

"Do you...do you still love him?" Jack asked.

Rapunzel thought for a moment before talking. "Eugene will always hold a special place in my heart, I mean he was the first man I ever loved, and not only that, but he was also a very close friend...but...no, I..." she smiled a shy smile, and then looked up at Jack, "I've moved on."

Jack smiled back, wiping away the remaining tears from her face. "That's, um, that's good."

Rapunzel laughed, "Yeah. I told you this so you would understand that if Pitch had done anything to Mia, you would know."

"That's the only reason you told me?"

"Well, I also told you because I trust you."

"Really?" Jack sounded surprised.

"Would I have told you my whole life story if I didn't?"

He shrugged, "You've got a good point."

Rapunzel shook her head, smiling. She leaned on the railing again, Jack doing the same. They were quiet for a long while. At one point in the night they grew so close that their shoulders were touching. Neither seemed to mind though. Neither seemed to also say anything when Rapunzel leaned her head on Jack's shoulder. Jack blushed, but then smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

They spent most of the night looking at the stars, until at one point Rapunzel fell asleep and Jack carried her off to her cabin. He laid her down gently, brushing her hair off her face. He turned to go and then stopped. Without letting himself think too much on it he went back and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, wishing her goodnight and then leaving. He walked off to his hammock, where he dropped on it lazily and proceeded to fall asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

 **Did you guys like it? Yes? No? Okay. Well, until next time :)**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"So _this_ is the Avian kingdom?" Merida asked with wide eyes as they docked on the port.

Rapunzel nodded, her eyes wide as well. She had seen quite a few kingdoms in her life, both as a princess and a pirate. But that hadn't prepared her for the beauty of Queen Toothiana's castle. It loomed high on the hill, high enough and wide spread enough for it to be seen from the port.

The amount of colors was overwhelming, but in a good way. It was bright, full of life. Full of different towers and walkways, with people bustling from one place to another.

As Rapunzel descended on the ramp she went over her speech in her head. It was something she'd planned last minute. She'd been trying to figure out how to say who she was and how she ended up going from princess to captain of a pirate ship. Her reputation wasn't as bad as others, but usually monarchs didn't care about that.

"Ye okay?" Merida asked.

Rapunzel shook her head, "If I'm being honest, I feel a bit nervous."

Merida remained quiet, waiting for her to elaborate.

"I mean...telling someone like Sarah and Delbert is completely different from telling a monarch I've never met before."

Someone wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she looked up to see Hiccup's green eyes. "Punz, you'll be fine, and besides, you'll have Mer, Jack, and me right there with you. You won't be alone."

"Yeah," Jack chimed in from behind them. "You'll do great."

Rapunzel smiled at her friends' attempts to comfort her, silently praying that they were right.

...

Her friends had been wrong. They weren't going to be by her side when she talked to the queen. She was friendly and very talkative, a little bit hard to take in all at once, but Rapunzel liked her.

Up until the queen requested to talk to her alone.

So now she sat on a chair at the end of an oval table, while the queen sat on the opposite side on a bigger and fancier chair. She was studying Rapunzel, her violet eyes staring intensely into her green ones.

"So...this is the golden girl who managed to evade the king of nightmares himself," she said, smiling at her.

Rapunzel nodded, "If you don't mind me asking, your majesty, how did you find out about what happened in Corona? I mean everyone knows that getting close to its borders is already dangerous enough-"

"Yes, it is. And the fact that you were able to not only dock on their ports, but actually evade Pitch and his goons for weeks, and then escape on someone else's pirate ship despite being chased by his navy is something that will be talked about," the queen interrupted.

"But, even so...how would you know exactly what happened? I mean yeah I get that a lot of townspeople saw me and my friends on the run, but no one else was around when we got attacked on Eret's ship."

"Eret?"

"The captain of the ship we used to get away."

"Oh. Well, just like Pitch had his spies watching you and your family for months, I too have my own people keep an eye on him and Corona."

Rapunzel gasped, "You're spying on him? Your majesty, you do realize how dangerous it could turn out if he were to find out, right?"

The queen shrugged, "Pitch wouldn't dare touch me nor my people. My kingdom is strong enough on its own, but he knows very well that if he were to so much as look in the direction of my kingdom, my other dear friends would be standing right besides me ready to give him the fight of his life."

Rapunzel's jaw dropped as the queen spoke. She seemed like such a carefree person, but as soon as she started talking about giving Pitch a fight, her voice took a colder tone. Rapunzel could see now how much the well being of her people meant to her. She reminded Rapunzel of her mom, a woman who always made sure the people of Corona were happy and safe.

"When did you start keeping an eye on him? And why?" Rapunzel asked.

The queen rose from her seat and went over to a huge map that was pinned on a board. It was a map of Corona and Arendelle. She'd marked each of the towns Pitch had taken with a black dot.

"I started keeping an eye on Pitch when my dear friend North told me about a few towns in Arendelle which had been left in ruins. They were blocked away from the rest of their kingdom and no one could reach them. At first I didn't think much of it. Then North started claiming that his spies had seen a man with golden eyes and the power to control dark sand taking over a town. That definitely got my attention. I didn't send my spies to Corona though until North mentioned the girl with white hair who could control ice."

"Elsa...her name is Elsa, the previous queen of Arendelle," Rapunzel said.

The queen nodded, "I guessed as much. I figured that since Pitch now feels like he's all tall and mighty again that maybe he'll start turning his attention to other smaller kingdoms like Arendelle. So far though my spies tell me that he only seems to be focused on Arendelle."

The queen stepped away from the board and went to sit next to Rapunzel. "I was about to pull my spies away, thinking that there was nothing else they could tell me that I hadn't already figured out. But then _you_ arrived at Corona."

Rapunzel looked down at her hands.

"You know, I've known Pitch for quite a long time. We used to be friends before he decided that he was better off murdering people and robbing them of their land."

Rapunzel looked up at the queen in shock, "You were friends with him?"

The queen nodded, "Our friendship may be over, but I like to think I do still know what he's like. And I also know that he wouldn't go through all the trouble he did to capture you unless you were someone important."

She let fact hang in the air before asking the question Rapunzel knew was coming, "So, Rapunzel, won't you tell who you really are?"

Rapunzel was quiet. This was it, this was the moment she'd been waiting for. She took a deep breath. Once word got out of who she truly was, things wouldn't be the same. She looked at the queen's violet eyes and with confidence she didn't know she had in that moment, she said it.

"My name is Rapunzel Corona, and I am the lost princess."

* * *

 **The truth is out!. Pretty soon more people will know of Punzie's identity. I would have added more to this chapter but I think I'll save that for the next one. Anyways, what did you guys think? Did ya like it? I hope so. Anyways you guys should like, idk, leave a review and tell me what you thought :) Until next time!**


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

 **When I mention small thrones just picture them like in the scene in Narnia when all of the four kids get crowned and sit on their thrones.**

* * *

 _As soon as Rapunzel said it the queen grinned, as if she already knew what Rapunzel was going to say. "Why are you-?"_

 _"I know, Rapunzel. I knew the moment I saw you," she said, her violet eyes shining. "I just wanted for you to admit it yourself."_

 _Rapunzel was shocked, her eyes widened, "H-how?" she stuttered. Queen Toothiana just smiled again. "Besides looking so much like her, you also have your mother's eyes."_

 _"You...you knew my mother?"_

 _The queen nodded, "Yes, I once knew your mother."_

...

"And we're just going to believe the word of some filthy pirate?" King Bunnymund asked, he was the most skeptical out of the four.

"Of course we are! Bunnymund just look at her, she's the spitting image of her mother," Toothiana argued.

"I only met the woman once, I hardly even remember what she looked like."

Rapunzel stood before all four of them, watching them banter from their spots on four small thrones. After their talk, Tooth and Rapunzel had pulled Merida, Hiccup, and Jack into the room. They discussed the idea of joining together to stop Pitch before arranging to come to king North's castle, the official meeting place for the Big Four. But unlike before, she wasn't alone. Her friends were standing by the wall of the, watching Bunnymund and Toothiana go back and forth while North eyed Rapunzel suspiciously and Sandy smiled at her.

"She's a dirty pirate, Tooth, and pirates are nothing but criminals. That's what she is, a criminal that we have no reason to trust and who I refuse to believe," Bunnymund stated, pointing an accusing finger at Rapunzel.

"Would you stop talking about her like that? She's a human being, not some rat for you to step all over," Jack strode forward to stand next to Rapunzel, silencing both Toothiana and Bunnymund. "You talk like you're an all mighty god, but at the end of the day you're human just like her, so cut her some slack."

Bunnymund was clearly shocked at being talked to that way, but his expression quickly changed from on of shock to one of anger. He rose from his seat, looking down at Jack with cold green eyes.

"Excuse me, but who the hell are you?" he asked in a lowered voice.

Jack was quiet. A few months ago he easily would have answered. He was Jackson Overland back then...but now? The Jack from before wouldn't have thought about running away with pirates, he would have kept to himself instead of fighting a swarm of soldiers who followed orders from a madman, all because of a girl who the old Jack wouldn't have fallen for if he had known who she was. The old Jack wouldn't have used his powers in front of anyone who wasn't Mia. And the biggest part, he wouldn't have left Corona without his sister, he would've stupidly gone after her, most likely getting himself killed.

"My name is Jack Frost," he finally answered, earning himself questioning looks from his friends.

Bunnymund opened his mouth to speak, but North cut him off. "Bunny, enough."

The tall man glared at Jack one last time before sitting down.

"I have heard enough, and while I do agree that trusting a pirate is not something I would advice, I have to admit that Tooth's strong faith in you has rubbed off on me. Not to mention that you do remind me a lot of Arianna," North said to Rapunzel.

"You knew my mother too? How?"she asked, a small smile forming on her lips, the sound of her mother's name bringing back fond memories.

"Arianna, Tooth, and I all used to be playmates when we were little. But that's a story for another time. Regarding your claims, there can only be one way to be sure of your heritage," the king rose from his seat, walking over to a painting on the wall.

"What do you mean?" Rapunzel asked, following him with everyone else close behind.

North smiled, "You'll see."

He pulled on corner of the painting down. A click was heard, and the wall began to slowly open inwards. He walked into a room with a small skylight on the ceiling, its light illuminating a beautiful golden flower that sat in a large marble pot. Rapunzel was hit with a wave of nostalgia once her eyes landed on the flower, but she couldn't explain why.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, walking towards the flower as if in a trance.

"After your mother became queen she reached out to me again and we kept in touch. She gave it to me when you were little and said to keep it safe in case anything ever happened to her and your father and should you be left alone. I'm guessing she'd been aware of Pitch watching them."

Rapunzel had been reaching for the flower but then she withdrew her hand. She turned around to face North. "I don't understand, what's so important about this flower?"

North shrugged, "Your mother said you would know what to do once you saw it. If you really are who you say you are, then you should know what she meant."

Rapunzel turned back to the flower. She came closer until she was standing right in front of it. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. As her eyes scanned the flower's intricate pattern of swirls, the tune of a song popped into her head. She hummed it, and without thinking touched on of the flower's petals. As soon sas her finger made contact the words to the song from her dream popped into her head, making her gasp.

"What is it?" Merida asked.

Rapunzel didn't answer. She stepped back, wringing her hands nervously, she wasn't used to singing in front of crowds. She took a deep breath and then sang the first words of the song.

 _"Flower gleam and glow..."_

Gasps were heard as the flower began to glow. Feeling more confident Rapunzel kept on singing. With each word that came out of her mouth the flower glowed brighter. As she sang the last word, streams of light came out of the flower. They swirled around her, some of them lightly grazing her cheeks. She heard another gasp from behind her and she turned to face the crowd.

"Punz...yer hair" Merida said.

Rapunzel gave her a puzzled look, and King Sandy quickly took out a mirror from his pocked. He pointed it in her direction and her jaw dropped once she saw her reflection. Her hair was glowing, just like the flower.

"How is this possible?" she asked, looking back at the magical flower.

"Isn't it obvious? It's because you truly are the rightful heir to the throne," North said. "I don't know much about the flower and how you came to be linked to it, but I do know that you have a great power."

The glow finally receded, and Rapunzel faced North again. "I have...powers?"

North nodded.

"Well, what are they?"

North shrugged, "I don't know."

"You-you don't know? If you don't know then how am I supposed to know?" Rapunzel asked, almost shouting out the question.

"Maybe you have super hair that will never get split ends?" Hiccup suggested, earning glares from both Rapunzel and Merida.

"Just a suggestion," he muttered before stepping back to stand behind Toothiana.

Merida rolled her eyes while Rapunzel simply turned around. When she'd set off to come to North's castle she never thought she'd end up singing to a flower that glows, only to find out that not only could her hair glow too, but she also had some sort of power.

"Guys, Ah think we should give her some space" Merida said, turning around to usher everyone out of the room. Once the were gone Rapunzel sat down besides the flower, looking up at it.

' _Well, at least they believe me now_ ' she thought.

She reached up and ran her finger down the flower's stem.

"Ow," she exclaimed when her finger ran over a small thorn. She rolled her eyes at her finger as a small drop of blood began to form. She was about to wipe the blood away when a stupid idea popped into her head. She was hesitant, but the thought kept nagging her, so she just did it. She gently wrapped a strand of hair around her finger, then looked back at the doorway to make sure no one was peeking into the room. When she saw no one, she turned back to her wrapped finger and began to softly sing the song. Her hair glowed again, and then stopped glowing once she stopped singing. She unwrapped it and gasped when she saw that there wasn't a cut anymore.

"Oh...my god...Oh my god!" She rose quickly and ran out of the room. "I figured it out! I know what my power is."

The four monarchs were sitting down on their chairs and her friends on the floor. They all looked up when she ran into the room.

"I know what my power is," she said, her excitement barely contained.

"Well, what is it?" Tooth asked.

"I'll show you. Hic, give me your dagger," She ordered. Hiccup scrambled up to his feet and took his dagger out of its sheath, Merida and Jack rising after him. He handed it to her, but before he could put his hand down she grabbed his wrist, turning his palm up.

"This may seem crazy, but just trust me," she said. Everyone had puzzled looks on their faces, but before anyone could ask questions Rapunzel sliced the knife across Hiccup's palm.

"Ow! Punz what are-"

"Shh," Rapunzel quickly dropped the dagger and began wrapping her hair around his palm. She sang the song and her hair glowed again. As before she unwrapped her hair once she finished and watched excitedly as everyone's eyed widened at the sigh of Hiccup's now uninjured hand.

"Punz...you're a..." Jack couldn't finish his sentence as he came closer to examine Hiccup's hand.

Rapunzel nodded, "I'm... I'm a healer..."

* * *

 **What did you think of this one? As for the dream Rapunzel was talking about, remember that nightmare where a crack on the ground appeared and light poured out from it that she had like who knows how long ago? Yeah that's what she was talking about. Also pictures the scene where the light streams out of the flower kind of like when she saves Eugene and there's a bunch of light that takes the shape of the flower, it's kind of like that. Anyways that is all for now, I hope you liked it. Until next time :)**


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

They would be staying at North's palace while all the preparations were made. The other three monarchs had gone back to their kingdoms with promises of returning once everything was ready.

Rapunzel and her friends were each given a room to stay in and some spare clothes. It was night time now, and Rapunzel sat on the bench in front of her window. She was toying with her hair, twirling it around her finger as she looked up at the sky. So much had happened. She'd revealed who she was, she'd found a new and extremely rare power, and she'd gotten the help she needed to finally stop the monster who had taken her family away.

Each puzzle piece seemed to be falling into place perfectly. And yet she still felt like something was missing. She sat and stared at the night sky for hours trying to figure out what that something was, but it was like trying to see clearly through a dense fog.

She sighed, finally getting up and laying down on her bed. It had been a long time since she'd slept on a bed like this one, not that there was anything wrong with her bed back at her cabin, it simply was just a different feeling. But with that feeling came questions and tough choices that she would have to make, so she ignored it all and closed her eyes, letting sleep claim her.

...

"So what I suggest is that we surround both islands. The citizens and Pitch are all on what we will call point A and the island connected to it will be point B," Rapunzel pointed at the island on the map, looking up to make sure everyone was paying attention. "We place North's army on point B, where there's a vastly large clearing on the southeast side. Bunny will come in from the southwest while Tooth will come in from the northeast. They will be hiding behind the treeline where they will wait for the signal to attack. While that is going on, Sandy will come in from the northwest and help evacuate the island, just to make sure the safety of the people is guaranteed. After everyone is safely on the boats, he too will engage in the attack."

Rapunzel finished talking and stared at the surrounding monarchs who were all looking at the map where she had doodled the plan. "Any questions?"

"While I have no doubt that luck is on our side, what will we do about your snow-controlling cousin?" asked Bunnymund.

Rapunzel looked back down at the map. "Jack and I already talked about that, he will take care of Elsa and make sure that she doesn't harm anyone and that no harm comes to her."

"And what about Gothel? Or the monster himself?"

"Gothel is always by Pitch's side, so we know that wherever he is, so is she. Merida said she'd handle her, while I will handle Pitch."

"Whoa, wait up. Are you sure you want to go up against him by yourself?" North finally spoke.

Rapunzel nodded, "At the end of the day this is a fight against the man who killed my family, if there is anyone who should take up the responsibility of taking out Pitch, it's me."

The monarchs all exchanged looks, but said nothing.

"Anymore questions?"

"Yes, one more. How will you draw the monster out of his fortress and into the clearing?" Bunny asked again.

"Easy, we use me as bait to lure him there."

"And how will he know you're even there?"

Rapunzel thought for a moment. A signal, she had to come up with a signal that Pitch would understand. But what could that be? She, unaware that she was doing it, began to pace back and forth. Her hand went up to her chest, feeling the small bump of the scar that marked her skin under the fabric of her clothes. Then the idea struck her.

"We give him a signal," Rapunzel said, answering Bunny's question.

"What kind of signal?" North asked, noticing the way Rapunzel's eyes suddenly lit up.

"A signal he won't be able to miss."

The four all gave Rapunzel a puzzled look. She sighed and then began explaining her idea. "When I was born, my parents released a bunch of lanterns into the sky. It soon became a tradition and they began to do it for all of my birthdays."

She turned to look at Tooth, "You said Pitch was watching my family for months before he attacked. That means he was there when they released the lanterns on my birthday a few months before the invasion, right?"

Tooth nodded, "It's highly possible, although none of my spies have reported seeing any lanterns light up since I sent them there, which means Pitch wasn't too keen on keeping the tradition."

Rapunzel nodded excitedly, "Exactly, which means that if I were to light up a few lanterns there is no way he would miss it. He would know then and there that it is me."

The three king's faces lit up once they knew what she was talking about. They all then began to quickly continue planning on when and where Rapunzel would light the lanterns. They ended up spending most of the day inside the meeting room, discussing the plan from start to finish, sometimes changing one detail or the other, tweaking it until they thought it to be utterly perfect.

...

After the meeting was done Rapunzel made her way to her room. She opened the door and screamed when she saw someone standing in the middle of the room, their figure illuminated only by a candle that stood on the bedside table, their back to the door. Whoever the person was let out a scream too , freezing the ground as they whirled around to see Rapunzel at the door.

"Jack? What the hell?"

"Sorry, I just- I just wanted to talk," Jack said, leaning on the bed post, his hand on his chest as he tried to calm down his heart. "That was quite a scream," he laughed breathlessly.

"You're one to talk," Rapunzel walked into the room and closed the door. She arched an eyebrow at Jack as she leaned against the door and he sat on her bed.

"What did you want to talk about?"

Jack hesitated at first, but then spoke, "Are you sure you want me handling your cousin? I mean, from what I hear she's a pretty powerful...witch? I'm barely getting a handle on my own powers, Punz, what if I can't keep her from harming the others, or what if I accidentally hurt her?"

Rapunzel stopped leaning on the door and walked over to sit next to Jack, who was looking down at his hands.

"Hey, you'll be fine," Rapunzel reassured him, "Elsa may be more experienced with her powers, but you're quick learner, and not only that, but you're incredibly smart. I have no doubt you'll be able to keep everyone safe from her, and also not harm her in the process."

Jack was still looking at his hands so Rapunzel placed one hand over his, using the other to lift his head. "Look at me, Jackson," at the sound of his full name Jack's eyes widened a little bit and locked with Rapunzel's. "You are stronger than you seem, braver than you believe, and smarter than you think you are. You can do this," She said with so much confidence that Jack actually believed her.

"You have a lot of faith in me for someone who's barely known me for a few months."

"I got to know you quite well in those months, so I don't doubt my faith in you," Rapunzel smiled.

They were quiet after that, and soon became aware of how close they were. The dim light of the burning candle cast shadows all around the room, while at the same time the reflection of the small flame seemed to dance in Rapunzel's eyes, and once again Jack was left speechless by her beauty both inside and out.

Jack had never been one with much self control, that is until he met Rapunzel. Ever since he fell for her all of his efforts had gone into keeping himself from doing something stupid and ruining the friendship they had. But now...in this moment...Jack was done trying to control himself.

Without thinking on it at all, he leaned in and closed the space between them. Rapunzel gasped, her eyes widening in shock, but Jack didn't pull away. His hands cupped her face, and Rapunzel's eyes fluttered shut as she leaned into the kiss. Her hands ran through his hair, while Jack's traveled down to wrap around her waist. They became a mess of tangled limbs as they scooted to lay down on the center of the bed

At this moment the feeling of surprise at the fact that the other reciprocated the feeling was pushed aside, both now content to finally hold each other the way they had daydreamed of doing for so long.

Rapunzel knew that soon she'd be facing the man who had ruined her childhood, and Jack knew he'd finally meet the monster who took his sister. But that night, neither cared. As they lay on the bed, closer than they'd ever been before, all thoughts of the upcoming war were pushed away as a new and overwhelming feeling took over. A feeling that they both welcomed with open arms.

...

Elsa had been moved from her cell to a small seat next to Pitch's throne. She'd been decorated in a pretty black dress, black heels, and a nice black collar around her neck that was chained to the back of his throne. They sat on there whenever he wasn't busy planning new ways to ruin people. It always sickened her to hear him talk about all of his new ideas, and she hated how he always got a crazed look in his eyes.

There was no real reason for him to have her there, except for the fact that he knew it was torture for her to hear him talk about how he would slowly destroy her own sister's kingdom. So he kept her by his side, whether it be day or night, she was right there next to him, chained to either a wall or pillar like a dog. Though to be fair that's exactly how she felt.

So just like the many times before, she sat at his feet on the fancy marble floors, resisting the urge to push Pitch's hand away as it played with her hair. He taunted her, got into her head, showed her disturbing images with his nightmare sand, and called her rude names, but no matter what she never broke the perfect posture she was holding, not even to wipe away the tears that slid down her cheek.

* * *

 **I'll just leave this chapter here and show myself out. Until next time :)**


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Rapunzel stood on the darkened bridge by herself. Merida had wanted to come with her, but Rapunzel had refused. The release of the lanterns was something that had always meant a lot to her, and it only felt right to release these ones alone.

With dawn only a mere hour away, Rapunzel knew it was now or never. Picking up a lantern, she lit the ring on fire. Watching it burn, she blinked away the tears of nostalgia that wanted to form and released the lantern. She quickly picked up the next one, lit it, and set it free.

She released three lanterns in total. Each one was meant as a message.

 _"I am alive."_

 _"I am here"_

 _"Come and get me"_

Almost everyone had thought that was a pretty unclear message, but Rapunzel knew Pitch would get it. She watched the lanterns float up for a few seconds before turning around and sprinting back to where North and Merida were waiting for her. She didn't need to look back to know that Pitch was watching the lanterns from his room, gripping the railing of the balcony in anger until his pale hands turned even paler.

...

 _-Flashback-_

 _"Are you sure this actually classifies as armor?" Rapunzel asked North as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing what North called 'leather armor'. It was all made up of a hard, brown leather breastplate, arm guards, shin guards, and a helmet. Underneath it all she wore two layers of thick clothes and some leather shoes._

 _The king nodded, turning Rapunzel around to examine the entire outfit before giving it a nod of approval. "You are not used to fighting with steel plated armor. This will be much more comfortable and will give you a lot more mobility," North said as he turned his attention to Merida._

 _All four of them had been given the same type of leather plated armor, since neither one had ever worn the steel ones. It was the night before they were due to set sail for Corona. Everyone was nervous and filled with anticipation._

 _Rapunzel's gaze met Jack's through the reflection of the mirror and he gave her a small smile. She returned it, looking down at her feet as a blush covered her cheeks. It had been over a week since that night in her room. Things weren't awkward, their relationship had actually grown stronger, but the way Jack looked at her now always had her fighting to control the blush on her face._

 _"Alright, it seems you are all done. How do you feel?"_

 _"Hungry," piped up Merida, placing a hand on her stomach as it growled in emphasis._

 _"I meant-"_

 _"We know what you meant, North. For me it all feels good, not too tight or too loose," Jack said, stretching his body._ _The rest of the group nodded, and North smiled in satisfaction. "Good, good. Well now that this is done, you all can go eat dinner now."_

 _Merida was the first out of the room, dragging Hiccup along with her. Jack and Rapunzel followed her next, too hungry to bother changing out of their current attire._

 _"Does this thing make you feel weird, or is it just me?" Jack asked as he walked next to her._ _Rapunzel shook her head, "No...it just makes it all more...real."_

 _She looked up at Jack, and he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She was scared, and Jack could sense it. She gave his hand a returning squeeze and then let it go as they entered the dining room._ _She took her place next to Jack, Merida in front of her with Hiccup to her right. They made small talk at first, before Merida declared that if someone else commented on the weather she would leave the room._

 _And so they all began talking like themselves. They joked around, Jack and Merida picked on each other while Hiccup and Rapunzel watched in amusement, usually intervening once things began to get heated._

 _And so went their last night on king North's castle, a night they all made sure they enjoyed and didn't take for granted, for they knew that tomorrow they would be on their way to fight a war that was now long overdue. A war that, no one then knew, would change their lives forever._

...

When Rapunzel broke through the tree line and into the clearing she saw Merida waiting for her in the middle of it. They ran and met half way, Merida inspecting Rapunzel to make sure she was okay.

"I'm fine, Mer," Rapunzel panted out. They slowly made their way to where North was waiting for them, just behind the treeline on the opposite side.

"You released them? All three?" North asked once she got to them. Rapunzel nodded, sitting down on the trunk of a fallen tree next to Jack, who handed her a cup of water and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Did he see them?"

Rapunzel nodded, pushing the small hairs that had escaped her braid behind her ear. "As I was running back I could see the glow of the castle lights from the corner of my eye. He saw them, I'm sure of it."

North turned and looked up into the sky, where the lanterns could now be seen by everyone as they floated up. "Well...it seems all we can do now is wait."

...

Rapunzel stood in the middle of the clearing again, alone under the gray sky, watching as the king of nightmares himself strode out of the treeline on a pitch black horse, or more like nightmare. He sent her an evil smile that almost made her cringe, but also helped her calm down her beating heart as she reminded herself that this monster had killed parents and dozens of innocent people.

"Well, well...look who finally decided to show up," he exclaimed, stretching his arms out. "Come to finally join mommy and daddy?" he mocked.

Rapunzel breathed in deeply through her nose before speaking. "I'm here to take back what is mine," her voice rang out, sounding with more confidence than she'd intended.

Pitch raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by her statement. "And how do you plan to do that, Deary?" he asked, leaning forwards on his nightmare.

Rapunzel didn't answer though. Instead she looked behind him, seeing the hundreds of men walk into the clearing, all geared up for war in black, steel plated armor. Pitch followed her gaze, then turned and grinned at her when she looked back at him.

"Oh don't mind them, focus on me," Pitch dismounted his nightmare, walking forwards a couple of steps. "Tell me again my dear Rapunzel, how will you take back your precious Corona?" he asked, his eyes alight with anticipation.

Rapunzel took one last look at his army. It was big, she'd admit that, but even with his nightmares and Elsa, Pitch was overpowered. Rapunzel's gaze met his again, and she sent him an evil smile of her own. Stretching out her arms she took a few steps back just as North, her friends, and their army strode into the clearing.

"With an army of my own," she said, her voice low and dangerous.

The mischievous glint in Pitch's eyes disappeared as he took in the mere size of what stood in front of him. Pitch wasn't stupid, and he knew Rapunzel hadn't come alone, but he also hadn't anticipated that he'd be going against one of the most powerful monarchs in the world.

Rapunzel drew her sword, her eyes not leaving Pitch. Merida, Hiccup, and Jack all came to join her, the four standing in front of North and his white horse.

Pitch glared at Rapunzel, and then snapped his fingers. The sound of chains landing on the ground was heard, and soon enough the crowd behind Pitch started to part as someone walked to the front. Rapunzel almost let out a gasp when she saw Elsa. She looked horrible. Her skin had always been pale, but now it looked almost deathly white. There were bags under her eyes, and her face looked gaunt. She looked ready to crumble, but that didn't stop her from elegantly walking to stand next to Pitch, donning a beautiful black dress.

Pitch turned to smile her, and looked back at Rapunzel. He whispered something to Elsa, and the ice queen raised her eyes. When her icy blue ones met Rapunzel's, they widened, but she didn't say anything.

"Well, isn't this one lovely family reunion," Pitch let out a maniacal laugh.

"You _will_ pay for this," Rapunzel said, making Pitch laugh even harder.

He snapped his fingers again, and dozens of nightmares suddenly appeared from the shadows. "Oh Rapunzel...haven't you learned anything? I'm the king of nightmares, I can never truly lose."

"We'll see about that," North spoke up. When Pitch looked at the king, his confident smirk fell just a bit before he forced it again.

"Yes, you will," he muttered.

Without warning Pitch thrust his hand forward, and his army charged. The deafening scream of the nightmares was heard, and just as Rapunzel ran forward to cross blades with Pitch, Bunnymund and Toothiana's forces burst into the clearing.

...

When Rapunzel's blade connected with Pitch's it sent a jolt through her. Pitch bared his teeth at her and pushed her back, trying to make her loose her footing. Fortunately, years of piracy had made Rapunzel good on her feet. She took a few steps back and then charged again, delivering a low blow and ducking as Pitch swung his blade in a wide arc.

Despite his armor, her sword connected with an unguarded area of his shin and Pitch let out a frustrated growl, that Rapunzel could still hear despite the roar of the battle around them, as a thin line of blood formed. Using his other foot, Pitch managed to land a kick to Rapunzel's face, knocking her on her side.

Rapunzel let out a pained groan, but scrambled away as Pitch ran forward to stab at her. She stood quickly, and they circled each other, both panting. Pitch looked like a mad man, even laughing as he charged forward again. Rapunzel managed to block his hit, and then took advantage of his close proximity to swipe his blade aside and elbow him in the face.

He grunted and stepped back, wiping away the blood that had begun to pour from his nose. He looked angry, but he didn't stop. They continued to cross blades, both managing to land good blows.

Pitch had just struck Rapunzel on the side of the head with his fist, knocking her down again. He stood in front of her, ready to attack again, but Rapunzel took advantage of her position to kick his feet out from under him. As he fell, she struggled to stand.

"You little-" Pitch began to curse, but was interrupted when Rapunzel swung her leg around to connect her foot with his face. The blow stunned Pitch for a few seconds, and his place was taken a very familiar looking man with a scar on his face.

His blade crossed with hers in quick and calculated movements, and at first Rapunzel was caught off guard by his skill. She quickly recovered and began to gain ground on him, managing to land a few cuts to the guy's face.

"Remember me?," the guy panted.

Rapunzel's mind quickly managed to pair up his face and voice with that of the man who had taken Mia. Recognition must have shown on her face, and the guy laughed.

" _You_ ," she said, and with a new surge of anger she attacked.

One wrong move was all it took. The guy swung his blade low, hoping to hit her feet, but he lost his balance and Rapunzel managed to avoid it by jumping. Her foot landed on the sword, and the man looked up in fear as she raised hers. She brought the handle of the sword down hard and fast, knocking the guy unconscious.

"Alright, that's it, I'm done playing games," Pitch spat out. Rapunzel whirled around to see him standing and gave him a puzzled look. She watched him put his fingers in his mouth and whistle, and then she heard a shrill screech. It seemed to come from nowhere, and then all of a sudden it was right next to her. Rapunzel didn't have a chance to turn around before something heavy collided with her. She landed on her back and looked up to see the biggest nightmare ever looking down at her. It screeched and then wrapped its muzzle around her ankle.

"If you want to fight this war, then we will fight it where it all began," Pitch shouted, walking towards them.

Rapunzel struggled to free herself from the nightmare, but before she could it sped towards the shadows, dragging her with it. Rapunzel let out a scream as the world began to turn dark, and as her eyes watched the last bit of light fade away, she could hear someone shouting her name.

* * *

 **Two updates in two days, well ain't God good!. Until next time :)**


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Shouted orders rang from all over the battlefield, and soon enough both sides clashed together like waves. As soon as the battle began, Jack busied himself chasing after the ice queen. She moved slower than the other men, watching the battle unfold before her. Her calculating blue eyes scanning the crowd.

Jack knew she'd found her first victim when he saw her tense up. She drew her arm back, and without hesitation shot a large and pointed icicle into the direction of one of Bunnymund's soldiers, who had just killed one of Pitch's men. The soldier looked up in time to see the icicle heading towards him. He screamed and held his shield in front of him as cover, but the ice never hit him.

The icicle had crashed into a thick wall of ice that Jack had created. The ice queen whirled around to face him, the puzzled look on her face turning into one of understanding.

"Please don't do this," she begged him. Jack could see the snowflakes swirling around her hands as she prepared for another attack, except this attack would be on him.

"I have to. But you, Elsa, you don't have to be his slave. You don't have to fight against us," Jack said, readying himself, icy blue sparks coming from his fingertips.

A look of sadness crossed her face before she launched a stream of ice and snow his way. Jack stepped aside to avoid it and launched his own attack. Elsa stumbled back as a strong wave of frost hit her in the chest. She looked down to see a pretty pattern of it forming over her dress and chest.

She looked up again and gasped when she saw Jack much closer this time, launching another wave. This time she managed to turn so it would hit her side, but that only caused her to fall down.

Jack ran towards her , but Elsa got on her knees quickly, slamming her hands on the ground. Ice quickly spread on the ground, making its way to Jack. A giant block of it burst from the dirt, slamming into Jack's chest and knocking him onto his back.

Elsa made her way to him quickly, barely managing to deflect any ice and frost he sent her way as he crawled away from her. She prepared to strike, and that's when Hiccup appeared in front of Jack. He stood without his sword, holding his hands up.

"Get out of the way!" Elsa shouted, but Hiccup shook his head.

"Listen to her Hiccup," Jack said, standing up and coming to stand in front of Hiccup. "I've got this, you can go."

Hiccup hesitated, but turned around to run away and join the fight. He'd barely taken a step forward when all three of them heard it. A scream, Rapunzel's scream. In the sea of screaming and dying men, her voice was the only one that mattered to Jack. They all turned to the direction it was coming from and saw Rapunzel being dragged into the shadows by a huge nightmare, with Merida running towards her.

"No! Rapunzel!" Jack screamed, running after her too. Neither could reach her though, and they all helplessly watched her disappear into the darkness.

...

Rapunzel's body was thrown onto hard, marble floor. She groaned in pain, but stood up quickly, turning in circles as she took in her surroundings. She was in a ballroom, a very familiar looking ballroom.

"I'm...I'm home..." she whispered to herself.

"Bravo, you figured it out," Pitch said, stepping out of the shadows, slowly clapping.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked, reaching for her sword, but then remembering that she had dropped it on the field.

"Why, for the same reason you're here in the first place. To end this...except we're ending it where it all began. In this very castle," Pitch stretched his arms out, motioning to the entire ballroom.

"How is it-"

"Still here? Well, after all the work was done with taking over this place, I pulled a few strings to bring back the castle to what it used to be before. You'll even find your room is the same way as when you left it."

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes, clenching her fists as she tried to remain calm.

"But enough chatter," Pitch said, raising his hand and forming a large scythe out of nightmare sand. "Let's end this already."

Before Rapunzel could react, he swung the scythe with ease in her direction. Rapunzel turned to run, but the scythe caught her back, making a clean cut across it. She stumbled and fell to her knees, gasping at the burning sensation that was spreading throughout her back.

Pitch cackled, coming to stand in front of her. He used the tip of his boot to lift her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"E-even if you kill me... Corona will s-soon be taken from you. You're outnumbered, Pitch, and no matter how many-"

Pitch swung the scythe again, except this time the other end of it connected with Rapunzel's nose. The force of the hit pushed her to her side, and blood began to pour out her nose.

"Here's what's going to happen," Pitch said, kneeling down in front of her. He grabbed a fistfull of her hair and yanked her face closer to his. Rapunzel cried out in pain, her green eyes glaring into Pitch's gold ones.

"I know I am outnumbered and outpowered, all thanks to you, _but_... what I can do, right here and now, is send you on your way to finally reunite with your dear mommy and daddy."

Pitch brought his face even closer to hers. "If I can't keep Corona, then you can't either," he murmured.

He let her hair go and Rapunzel crumpled back onto the ground. She lay there, gasping for air as her blood slowly decorated the marble floor, while Pitch took the dagger she'd been hiding in her boot. He came and sat on top of her, straddling her waist and trapping her arms to her sides, holding the tip of the dagger over her cheek. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, "You were right, this place really is yours. So, you can have it, princess Rapunzel...or should I say queen?" a low laugh escaped his lips, and Rapunzel turned her head away.

Pitch sat up straight, holding the dagger with both hands. Rapunzel shook her head, tears running down the sides of her head, as he raised both of his arms above his head.

"Long live the queen!" he shouted, and Rapunzel let out a shrill scream as Pitch brought the dagger down.

...

Rapunzel's eyes widened, her body curling upwards as the knife was plunged deep into her abdomen. She gasped, as if her body was trying to inhale one last gulp of air, before slamming back in the ground. Pitch's face hovered above hers, smiling triumphantly.

Everything became blurry, and Rapunzel struggled to breathe. Suddenly, Pitch's look of joy twisted into something that resembled shock. Rapunzel's eyes made their way from his face to his hands that still gripped the embedded dagger. An arrow had pierced both of his wrists. Pitch and Rapunzel started at eachother in shock, before a pained scream errupted from Pitch's mouth. He pulled the knife out of Rapunzel and rolled off of her, stumbling to his feet.

"Lass!" cried out Merida as she rushed to kneel besides her.

"Mer," Rapunzel croaked weakly.

Merida gently unbuckled Rapunzel's leather breastplate, lifting it off and throwing it aside. Merida lifted Rapunzel's bloody shirt and let out a small gasp. Even in her state, Rapunzel easily recognized the look on Merida's face. She was dying.

"Punz, look at me," Merida said instead, holding Rapunzel's lolling head in her hands. Rapunzel hadn't even realized she'd closed her eyes. She opened them again and watched as Merida began to mouth a bunch of words.

"...with yer hair. Rapunzel, can ye hear me? Ye need to sing so you can heal yourself with your hair," Merida instructed.

"O-okay," Rapunzel said. She took a deep breath, and began to weakly sing.

"F-flower gleam and glow..."

Rapunzel began, her hair igniting immediately, but stopped as she blood began clogging her airway. She turned her head and spat it out, struggling once again to keep going, the awakening glow in her hair beginning to dim again.

"N-no, ye have to keep going," Merida pleaded, gently smacking Rapunzel's cheek. "Ye can't give up! Not now! Rapunzel!"

But Rapunzel had closed her eyes again, and this time she wasn't going to open them again. She couldn't, it felt so good to have them closed. It felt so good to just give in, to stop fighting. For those brief seconds, all she cared about was how relieved she was to finally be done.

"Argh, fine then! Flower gleam and glow," Merida began, glaring at Rapunzel, partially blaming her for making her sing, even though it was the one thing Merida hated more than sheep liver. As Merida sang the glow in Rapunzel's hair grew bright again, traveling down all the way from her roots to the tips. Merida quickly wrapped Rapunzel's hair as quickly as she could around her abdomen and back.

Jack, who had charged in after her, took in the sight of Merida attempting to heal an extremely pale and bloodied Rapunzel and Pitch who was cowering in the shadows as he tried to remove the arrow binding hiss fists. Anger coursed through Jack's body as he ran at Pitch. He grabbed him by the black folds of his robes and threw him across the floor.

As the last words of the song echoed in the vast ballroom, and the glow that had covered Rapunzel's hair disappeared. Merida watched in anticipation as the color returned to Rapunzel's face. Rapunzel's eyes opened slowly, and she gasped, sitting up quickly. Merida immediately wrapped her arms around her. Rapunzel was about to return the hug when the deafening screech of Pitch's nightmare was heard again.

They let go of eachother and stood up. Rapunzel turned to see Pitch stumbling away from Jack, who was now running towards her.

"Rapunzel!" he cried as he took her in his arms, but Rapunzel was too distracted to hug him back. She was looking up at the ceiling, where a dark cloud of nightmare sand was swirling. All three of them began to back up, shielding their eyes as the cloud began to spiral down like a tornado.

The nightmare sand suddenly exploded outward, making the ground shake. Rapunzel walked forward when she saw who it was, glaring at the figure. In the middle of the room was Pitch's general herself. Gothel locked eyes with Rapunzel and grinned, laughing wickedly and then rising to stand.

"Well hello, Flower."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Jack and Merida wasted no time in pushing Rapunzel behind them.

"We've got this, Punz, you go take care of Pitch," Jack said.

Rapunzel nodded, walking along the wall of the ballroom. Her eyes searched for Pitch, and then they noticed the ballroom door was open. She wasted no time in running out the door, only sparing Jack and Merida a glance before she exited into the hallway. There was a trail of blood leading down the left side of the corridor, towards the area where the royal bedrooms were.

She began to sprint in that direction, already guessing where Pitch would be. As she ran, she kept her eyes forwards, not wanting to look at her surroundings too much. Once she reached what once was her parent's bedroom, she knew she'd been right. The doorknob was bloody, and Rapunzel hesitated before grabbing it.

She had turned the knob midway when the door from behind her, her old bedroom door, flew open and Pitch ran at her, his body slamming hers against the door hard enough to force it open.

They landed on the floor, Pitch on top of her, and Rapunzel quickly pushed him off, trying her best to ignore the pain in her chest from having the wind knocked out of her. Pitch scrambled to his feet too, looking frazzled. His eyes were no longer cold and calculating, they were wild and unfocused.

The arrow that had pierced his wrists had been snapped in half, but neither end had been pulled out.

"You truly are pretentious," Pitch spat out.

Rapunzel shook her head, "I'm not the one who goes around parading their hideous victories. You claim to be the almighty Nightmare King...but look at you now."

Pitch snarled, but Rapunzel kept going. "You're nothing...you're just a coward with a dangerous power."

Pitch screamed, grabbing a nearby chair and throwing it at Rapunzel. She ducked, and then grabbed the closest thing to her, a rounded glass bottle with black liquid inside. She threw it at Pitch's head, and the bottle smashed against the side of his face.

Pitch let out a pained scream as he continuously tried to wipe the contents and glass shards out of his eye. Rapunzel searched the room for a weapon, and was shocked to find so many. But only one caught her eye. A sword with a golden hilt and a sun encrusted just below the rain guard on the blade. It was her father's sword, she'd know it anywhere, and it rested just above the headboard of the bed.

She turned back to Pitch, to see that he had moved to stand in front of the glass balcony doors. He had stopped wiping his eye, and Rapunzel gasped when she saw blood coming out of it .

"You-" Pitch didn't finish his sentence, instead throwing a big mass of nightmare sand her way. Rapunzel stumbled back, and that's when a sudden flash of blue appeared.

Ice had intercepted the nightmare sand, and with it came Elsa strolling into the room, her arm outstretched and ready to strike again. "Get away from her."

Pitch's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly recovered, attacking with the sand again.

"Well, well. Shouldn't you be freezing people back on the battlefield?" Pitch asked in a mocking tone.

Elsa glared at him, "No, not anymore. I'm done being your slave, and if there's one place I should be, it's next to her," Elsa motioned with her head at Rapunzel, her eyes never leaving Pitch.

"Well then, that's truly a shame that I'll have to kill you too now."

They became involved in a harsh battle of the Ice Queen versus the Nightmare King. Elsa had gotten the upper hand, managing to push Pitch out onto the balcony. Rapunzel, who had taken the advantage to grab her father's sword littered in the background, waiting for a chance to strike.

And it came, when Pitch ducked on the ground in the middle of one of Elsa's attacks and threw a throwing knife made of nightmare sand at her. It plunged itself in her shoulder before dissolving, and she let out a cry of pain. Pitch blasted her with more nightmare sand, her body slamming against the marble railing. Rapunzel took the chance and while Pitch was distracted and came up behind him.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Elsa sat up, preparing to build an ice wall between her and Pitch. Pitch, holding a giant mass of nightmare sand, prepared to strike. And Rapunzel, without hesitation, drove the sword hilt-deep into his spine. He never saw it coming.

"This is payback for everything you've done to my family, my friends, and my people," she whispered into his ear, locking eyes with him as his head turned, eyes wide and expression resembling Rapunzel's very own back in the ballroom, before withdrawing her sword and stepping back.

Elsa stood up and they both watched the legenadry Nightmare King collapse on the floor, a gasp being the only sound he made before his eyes rolled back and his chest stopped moving.

Rapunzel dropped the sword, stepping around the blood that was spreading all around the floor and pulled Elsa into a tight hug. The Ice Queen returned it, and they hugged in silence as they both let the new reality sink in.

...

Gothel was a challenge, even when she was going up against three people. Hiccup had joined them after following them into the castle with Elsa behind him. He'd joined Merida and Jack in the fight against Gothel while Elsa ran off after Rapunzel.

Gothel had been tossing Jack and Hiccup around like dolls, and had made Merida exhaust her entire quiver of arrows, forcing her to use a sword, when suddenly she froze.

The three friends shared a puzzled look and watched in confusion as Gothel fell to her knees, her hands touching her abdomen as if in pain. She began coughing and gasping, and then held both of her hands in front of her. They were dissolving into dust, not sand.

Gothel shook her head violently, "No no no no no."

She gave one last hateful look at the three of them, before throwing her head back and letting out one last rueful scream just as she comepletely turned to dust.

Merida, Jack, and Hiccup looked at each other. "Does this mean...?" Merida couldn't even finish the question before they all sprinted out of the room. They followed the blood trail as well, and burst into the room where they could see Rapunzel and Elsa hugging on the balcony.

"Punz!" Merida shouted, and then stopped dead on her tracks once she reached them. Jack and Hiccup did the same, and they both stood in silence as they looked upon the body of Pitch Black.

Merida turned to Rapunzel, who had been looking at Pitch too. "Punz...ye did it."

Rapunzel didn't say anything as she pulled away from the hug, and when Merida saw the look on her face, she finally got the hint to take her out of there. She wrapped her arm around her friend, and lead her out of the room. "Come on, let's get out of here."

All five left the castle, not looking back as they walked back to join their other friends on the battlefield.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Rapunzel's hands were sweating as she stood in front of the large crowd of people. She was still dressed in her armor, having been too busy helping the wounded soldiers to bother changing out of it.

When the evacuated people were returned to the town, the ones who could help began to assist Rapunzel and the medics with the hurt soldiers, meanwhile others helped clean up the battlefield, and some mingled around, fetching anything that Rapunzel , and the people helping her, needed.

A woman not too much older than her was the first to stop and stare at her healing the wounded with her hair. Then a few others stopped, until finally a huge crowd stood in front of her, too big for her to ignore. She could see them all their confused faces slowly turning into ones of recognition.

"Is it really you, your Highness?" an older woman asked, stepping forwards.

Rapunzel didn't know if she could actually say the words out loud to them. She looked at all of the hopeful and familiar faces in front of her, all of them hoping that some part of what Corona used to be had survived in her, after years of what seemed like hell.

The old woman reached for her, and Rapunzel grabbed her hand. Giving it a gentle squeeze, she smiled and nodded. The women's face brightened, and she kneeled in front of Rapunzel. The rest of the crowd followed her actions, and Rapunzel was left speechless at the sight of it.

"Welcome home, Princess."

...

Rapunzel was sitting in front of the window, staring out at the countless of houses and people she could see from her room, and just beyond that, the sea. It glittered under the rising sun, and Rapunzel longed to stand in front of it, to feel the ocean breeze and hear the sound of waves crashing.

But when she looked down at her people, and how they all seemed to be coming back to life now that Pitch was gone, she couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility and protectiveness over them. Pitch had turned their lives upside down, and turned their once happy kingdom into hell. She couldn't bear the thought of letting them go through that again, or of leaving home.

A knock on her door made her jump, and she turned to see North standing in the doorway. He gave her a small smile, and she returned it. He came and sat in front of her, with a look on his face that said he was waiting for her to say what she was thinking.

Rapunzel sighed, "What do I do?" she asked.

"About what?"

Rapunzel waved her arms around the room, "This!" she pointed towards the people who were wandering the streets, "Them."

She looked at him with desperate eyes, and he smiled kindly. "You do what you think is best. For them, for your kingdom, and for you."

Tears began to well up in her eyes. "But...what if I don't know what is best? What if I make things worse?"

North shook his head, "You had the courage to come back and fight for the place that was once your home. You fought for your people, for your family, friends, and for yourself. You did what no one else did. If there is anything I am completely certain of, it is that you can do this."

A tear slipped down her cheek, but Rapunzel didn't bother to wipe it away. "I just...I've been gone for so long, I don't know if I can return to being a princess again after years of being a runaway and a pirate."

North chuckled, "Rapunzel, no one is asking you to."

Rapunzel, who had been looking out the window, turned back to North, a question in her eyes.

"Whether you stay, or you go, is your choice. Don't let someone else try to make it for you."

Rapunzel nodded, and North stood up. "I better go and check on the preparations for our departure tomorrow," North said as he made his way to the door.

"Oh, and by the way, Jack's sister is awake now, she's been asking for you," and with that North disappeared down the hall.

Rapunzel got up, brushing off any dust from the simple purple dress she was wearing. She made her way over to the infirmary, pondering over North's words the entire way there.

...

Rapunzel was dressed in a pair of pants, boots, and simple white shirt again. Her hair was in a braid, and her sword was in it's sheath next to her hip. Usually, seeing her ship would make her smile, but not this time. Once the Golden Dagger docked on the port, Merida and Hiccup ran forward to greet their friends. Rapunzel stood back, watching the scene unfold before her. She was thrilled to see her friends again, but...the feeling that she was making a mistake by leaving wouldn't go away. It had been there ever since she'd decided to go.

"Punz!" Jim shouted, and the crew all ran to her, forming one big group hug.

They all talked about they'd missed each other, and began walking back towards the ship. Jim had made sure he'd brought extra supplies so they wouldn't have to restock. Rapunzel discreetly hung back, her steps becoming smaller and smaller, until she stopped walking all together. Merida, noticing the look on her friend's face, stopped and walked back to her.

"Ye aren't coming," she stated after some long seconds of silence. Rapunzel shook her head.

"I already left them once, I can't do it again," Rapunzel said, motioning to the people who were watching from the streets and windows. Merida wanted to argue, but knew that there was really no chance of changing Rapunzel's mind.

"What about the Dagger?" she asked.

Rapunzel smiled at her, "It's yours now, Mer."

Merida smiled back, tears forming in her eyes. "Ye're gonna be a great queen, just like you were a great captain."

Tears fell down Rapunzel's face, and she pulled Merida into a hug. "And you are going to be a great captain," she whispered, closing her eyes and holding her friend tightly as the tears kept falling. Merida hugged her back, burying her face into Rapunzel's shoulder. They'd been together for ten years, always looking out for each other. To say they were friends would've been an understatement, since by now they both knew they were sisters at heart.

After the hug ended Merida wiped away the tears she'd secretly shed. Rapunzel did the same, and then took off the sheath that contained her sword. "Here, take it."

Merida grabbed the sword and smiled. "I'll come visit, I promise."

"Oh, you'd better," Rapunzel warned jokingly.

Merida turned and walked back to the ship. Everyone was on board now, watching them. The crew all got sad faces once they saw Rapunzel stay on the dock, and they waved sadly. Hiccup stood by the railing along with Merida while the rest of the crew went back to their positions. He gave Rapunzel a smile and waved. Rapunzel did the same, standing at the edge of the dock, watching the Dagger sail away until it disappeared into the horizon.

...

Jack was sitting by Amelia's bed in the infirmary, spreading frost patterns on his clothes while she slept. He hadn't talked to Rapunzel since the day before yesterday, when she'd told him she was going to leave. Jack had wanted to go with her, but he wasn't going to leave Mia, and he wasn't going to bring her along with him to raise her in a life of piracy.

Amelia stirred and then opened her eyes. Jack gently helped her up, giving her a glass of water. When she'd been under the captivity of Pitch she'd been starved and constantly traumatized with horrible dreams. When they had finally found her ten days ago, Jack almost lost it when he saw how frail she looked, she almost looked as bad as Elsa.

"Hey, how do you feel?"

Mia gave him a weak smile, "Much better."

Jack smiled, and then saw Mia look past him at something. Jack turned and was surprised to see Rapunzel standing by the door.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I came to see you," Rapunzel said in a small voice.

"Why? You guys should've left like an hour ago."

Rapunzel walked a few steps forwards. "They did, I just didn't go with them."

Jack stood up, quiet as he processed her words. "Wait, so you're...?"

"I'm staying, Jack."

A smile slowly broke out on Jack's face and he rushed at her, taking her in his arms and spinning her around while Rapunzel laughed. He set her down and wasted no time in kissing her, hard. It lasted long enough to have both of them panting once he pulled away.

"I thought you would leave and I wouldn't ever see you," he breathed.

"I'm here," she said in a low voice so only he could hear, her green eyes looking up into his now fully blue ones, "and I'm not leaving."

...

-8 years later-

Rapunzel stood on the docks alone, her personal guards a few feet behind her. She waved excitedly at the row boat that was coming closer and closer. A very familiar head of read hair waved back, and Rapunzel couldn't stop smiling. She looked past the boat at the anchored ship behind it. The Golden Dagger was still as magnificent as the day she'd left it. She could see the crew also waving, and she smiled and gave them a small wave.

Once the rowboat reached the dock, Rapunzel's guards helped Merida and Hiccup out of it. The three friends then proceeded to form a group hug, all of them saying how much they'd missed each other. Rapunzel noticed the matching gold band both Hiccup and Merida were sporting, and she smiled but said nothing.

Merida was the first to notice Rapunzel's stomach. "Punz, ye've gotten fatter," she joked.

"Yeah, I did, but...not for the reasons you might think," Rapunzel said, placing a hand on her stomach. A puzzled look crossed over Merida's face before it dawned on her.

"You're pregnant!" Hiccup blurted out, and Rapunzel nodded.

More hugs happened, and then the three friends began making their way to the castle, where Jack was busy helping get the room they'd be staying in get ready.

"So what's it like being queen?" Hiccup asked.

"It's...interesting. What's it like being upgraded to quartermaster?"

Hiccup smiled, "It's...interesting, especially with the kind of captain we've got."

"Hey! Ah'm a great captain," Merida said, swatting at Hiccup's shoulder.

Rapunzel and her friends continued on their way. They talked and talked, catching up on what had happened in the last eight years until they reached the castle and met up with Jack, who was also excited to see them.

Whether they knew it or not, they'd come far on their journey. All of them started out as runaways. Rapunzel had run away from a ruined kingdom, Merida had run away from an arranged marriage, and Hiccup had run away from the responsibility of becoming chief.

They still had a lot of things to solve, and Merida and Hiccup both had demons that they'd confront in the near future, but for that moment no one was worried. They were happy, life was simple, and all that mattered was that they were together.

* * *

 **...That's it. It's done...oh my god. Someone asked about Hiccup and Merida's backstory, and while I didn't give a complete answer, I hope that passage about the runaways was a good hint as to what happened. Also if any of you are wondering what happened to Elsa, she was taken back to Arendelle where she was given the proper care she needed for what she went through. Also I know I didn't write the characters 100% like they were in their movies, but that's because with the things each one went through, it changed them in different ways and I chose have them be more complex than what they'd been written like in their movies.**

 **Okay, so no I want to thank my good friend Wolfgirl619, she was a big help when it came to planning this story and was always there when I needed help. To those of you who chose to follow/favorite and review this story, thank you so much, it really meant a lot.**

 **And well...that's it. Thanks for sticking with me through this journey, and I'll see you guys next time for my next story :)**


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